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Or maybe it can't be made too much better. Have written before about this but a thesaurus is not as useful for my own writing as other reference materials because swapping out similar-meaning words isn't enough to make language poetic.
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For example, you can say some man was "ugly", or look up synonyms of ugly. he was "misshapen", maybe. Or you can say that "Nature suffered a toothache when creating him." a thesaurus will not get you there. Maybe can never get you there.
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I once drafted some writing advice titled "Use the Wrong Word" which involved advocating for using technically incorrect but aesthetically pleasing language. For example consider a sentence: "We must allow ourselves some level of enchantment to [create] the supernatural."
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"create" is OK, but inexpressive. A thesaurus could not improve. But what about "invite"? or "lure"? We want to invite the supernatural. to lure (back) the supernatural. That gets closer to the right feeling, and it's the same feeling, even though literally different meaning
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Some of my language I myself borrow from ancient Greek phrasing, for instance saying something like: "Wonder holds me [as I look upon...]" which no modern person uses, but feels quite correct to me. Many cases.
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Replying to @SloaneSays and @simonsarris
For instance in Latin the way you say “I remember” is something like “teneo in memoria,” or “I hold [it] in memory” just like you’d say “ I hold [it] in my hands”
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So I was wondering if I could bring some of this thinking into making a better thesaurus-like reference. Probably not though. It probably cannot be systematized meaningfully.
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ohh that looks quite good. And, rare: benignant (!)
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Replying to @_mattneary and @simonsarris
The Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus included in the Mac dictionary app has some of that. It used to have more; I remember reading this blog post but can’t find any of those usage notes today: web.archive.org/web/2012101822
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Yes, this is the thing we really want. This little stretch that lets us turn a mental prism just a bit.
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Replying to @simonsarris
But occasionally, seeing one of the other words—likely one that’s peripherally related, not an exact synonym—will trigger a different way of coming at the incompletely realized notion in our head, will lead to a fitting poetic locution.
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Mostly my vocabulary shifts when I notice others using words I decide I want to start using or use more. Usually this leans contemporary and transient. I’ve never used a thesaurus but often use urban dictionary when I decide to hop on a meme bandwagon.
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