Roget's defines veridical as:
1. Conforming to fact: accurate, correct, exact, faithful, precise, right, rigorous, true, veracious. See CORRECT, HONEST, REAL, TRUE. 2. Consistently telling the truth: truthful, veracious. See TRUE
This was one of the words used in the Woody Allen film, "Anything Else".
The other day I got an email from a friend who said, "Though your extreme honesty is sometimes a shock to my system, it's mostly refreshing and often admirable."
I'm afraid my friend isn't claiming that I'm veridical; I'm afraid she's claiming that I tend to open my mouth when perhaps I should keep it closed. Still, I think I'll follow Homer Simpson's example when he got stuck in a doggie door and bemoaned, "Oh, why did I have to be so voluptuous?"
Oh, why must I always be so veridical?
4 comments:
All these big words...my mind just can't handle it!
Speaking of unusual words, I have a friend who uses the term ruinate. Using the context, it seems to mean to be ruined.
If you drive your car with the "check oil" light on, that is a good way to ruinate your engine.
I plan to adopt this word, but I'm afraid it isn't a "real" word. What in your interesting and somtimes veridical opinion should I do?
According to dict.org, "ruinate" is a perfectly acceptable word. So in this particular instance, feel free to adopt this word.
In a more general sense however, I do have a philosophy concerning the adoption of words that may not be "real".
My philosophy is that language is determined by usage; therefore, if you and your community adopt a word, even if it is not in the dictionary, it is real word. Again, feel free to adopt it. The only caveat is that you may want to be sensitive to those people around you who find your use of neoterics to be inappropriate.
Hey Big Brother,
I just don't know about you and your "big words." Sometimes I hardly know what you are talking about. I guess I just need to start carrying around a dictionary.
Your Pesky Little Sister
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