Ordinary Banana

I have one friend who is spectacularly good at noticing a word she doesn’t know and asking about it - I want to get better at this.

you mean when she sees it spoken/written or when she's trying to say something and can't find the right exact word to use?

when she hears it or reads it

ahh ok. i'm the same ngl, if i hear something and it's around people who'll have the time to explain it w/o getting irate i try to ask them straight-out what that word meant exactly, otherwise i look it up later on the Internet (which is what i do for when it's when i'm reading)