I often wish that my vocabulary were larger. Too many foolish years spent enjoying myself cut deeply into my serious side when I should have been learning more. I remember a couple of words from the early days that have stuck with me, one of which was the word ennui. That word came to light in Mrs. Vitus's English class; its simple definition is "boredom." Which classical story it sat in I've forgotten, maybe something by Hemingway. Anyway, it's stayed with me.
Another word came to me at quite a young age through my favorite radio drama, The Lone Ranger. Man, how I relished the adventures of him mounted on a horse named Silver and his trusty sidekick, Tonto, who rode obediently along with him. (In those days before political correctness, it was still all right to have an Indian sidekick.) One's imagination needed to be active to picture the scenes where he righted all the wrongs he found. Anyway, he used the word naive one time to describe someone in his world, and while I had an idea of its definition through its context, I had to clarify it as soon as I figured out how to spell it and get to a dictionary where I found it meant an "almost foolish lack of worldly wisdom."
English teachers loved to make the assignment for us to write new words in an original sentence. Here's one: I suffer ennui when I listen to naive politicians. With that I believe I will go on vacation to a warm climate. Check back in three weeks.
