I had no ennui or angst taking this quiz.... 15 out of 15 ....It was a bonanza of information and I found it serendipitous to have found your channel. 👍👍😎👍👍
Palaver and Ennui stumped me. I'm 80 and extremely literate, but apparently not literate enough (*Blush*). This is the first of these videos in which I have not known all the words. I have learned something, proving that you CAN teach an old dog a new trick or two! (Retired in northwest Arkansas, USA)
I'm guessing that palaver is not used a great deal in the US. It is used a lot in the UK although it is pronounced a bit differently. It is used a lot with the old cockneys of London when they would often say "What a palaver" The British pronounce it as per lah ver. I'm with you on the Ennui never heard of that.
Those were the two I had trouble with also, and I'm a native English speaker. I've heard ennui before but never really knew what it meant. I'd never heard palaver and only guessed it was related to the Spanish word "palo" (stick) which it clearly is not.
I’m Australian and familiar with palaver so maybe it has more of a UK based usage - in general it tends to be informally ie among friends that it would in a professional setting.
I knew the word from Dune (book). This was the scene where Paul was telling the spacing guild to get the ships out of there or he will destroy the source of the Spice. I love being kept on my toes and learning new things. Cheers.
I learned "ennui" in my teens because it's used in the first verse of Cole Porter's 'I Get A Kick Out Of You' (1936). "Palaver," on the other hand, stumped me.
In French, ennui is just the word for boredom. I find it pretty funny that as a loanword it takes on a much narrower and almost exclusively literary meaning.
I'm 63, and got them all right. I doubt anyone who doesn't read regularly could get half of them. Encourage your kids to read! I expect you are an avid reader.
Man, you are, by far, one of the best English teachers on RUclips and your channel is very useful and well organized, because you subtitle all of your videos. Thank you so much. Cheers from Brazil.
You should be. I'm a one language American. We are disparaged for a long of stupid reasons but we certainly don't do other languages. It is getting to be that Spanish is good to know.
That is awesome. One of the things I thought about as I took the test is how hard it would be to learn a second language well enough to do OK on the test.
15/15: native language - British English. Please note: 'boondocks', or 'boonies' is not a word in common use in the UK. It's sheer serendipity 😁 that I know the word at all....from American 'movies' (also an American word!).
Not to make this a rant but this really helps me feel like I’m not actually dumb. I’ve failed English through out my whole school life. I can barely do punctuation and grammar. My spelling is atrocious. I do a lot of run on sentences and I never got any help for it. I feel very insecure about my English but doing these and knowing the words make feel a little better.
@@bunnybird9342 thanks.I mean I’am a 34yr old 100% American that can barely spell. It’s really embarrassing. school crippled my self esteem in learning so I work harder now. it does make me feel good I am in the c2 bracket on his test how I don’t know but I am happy
Your comment does not reflect your assessment. ie. It is very well written. No spelling errors, and the hyphen and comma choices you made are not hard and fast here. Upper case where you needed it, end punctuation, no run ons . . . what's not to love?
15/15 I am 77, started reading adult level books at 4. I have been an almost compulsive reader all my life. Fortunately, as a child, TV was not very interesting and I went to the library every week. My mother had to write a letter for the library that I could check out books written for adults.
15/15. English second language. Kindred spirit, l am 83, self- taught reader just before 4. Household in rural area with no books, only newspapers and magazines and no library. Moved to city at age 12 and immediately enrolled at library, only checking out boojs from adult section. Still reading avidly, 200+ books annually.Do not own TV and only social media is RUclips.
TV helps for English too, books, movies, commercials, etcetera. You need a visual image for a better understanding. Doesn't matter if you use social media or not, but if you do, just know the mental health consequences of using it. Coming from a 14-year-old.
15/15. I am 71. According to Amazon Kindle, I read almost 300 books a year. My mom used to read to me a lot as a child. She taught me to read and love it. They were my distraction when she was busy.
Not a native, but I'm fluent and pretty confident when it comes to vocabulary. However I only got 11 right. The remaining 4 words were completely new to me. Thank you for your video)
Out of curiosity; Where did you go to High School? Or I guess my real question is: How common is it for high school,students in the US today to study Latin or Greek?
@@gregfaris6959 Not very common any more I'm afraid......I was class of 77 and the teacher retired a couple years later and that was the end of the Latin program.
If you aren't a native English speaker, 7 is an excellent score. That type of vocabulary is hard to get until you have read a LOT of English books (you most certainly won't pick many of these words up from spoken English! Especially in the USA!!).
15 of 15. Native English speaker and around for about eight decades and read a lot. Knew them all cold except "imbroglio", but I guessed right. Here is one of my favorite things about words from the TV show NCIS: McGee: "What are we looking for?" Abby: "Anything hinky." McGee: "Why do use that word?" Abby: "What word?" McGee: "Hinky. It's a made up word." Abby: "All words are made up words."
But if you know French, Spanish and Italian you have a better guess - knowing the Spanish "Palabro" and knowing the ambiguity that exists between the "b" and the "v" in that language, along with the popular French song; "Parole, parole parole",.... It's still a guess, but a more educated guess. I didn't know the word, but did get the answer based on this reasoning.
@@BrianWilesLanguages and well, some people say they don’t like the fact but i really think that’s what makes english language even more fascinating as an international language
15/15 American all the way. Voracious and varied reader since 5 yo, 74 yo now. Love ereader that will show definitions, although I don't often find a new word. Being a perpetual student helped too. Reading is my greatest pleasure these days. 😂😅😊😊
"Palaver" was a word my colleague used often, and I wondered about its meaning. She is from one of the Caribbean islands, and now I finally know what it means. Thanks!
Anyone else have a sense of ennui with these easy words? I got all of them even before the options were given. Very serendipitous of us to have a bonanza of other options to peruse.
I ran across some of my writing from when I was 18 - atrocious. I was terrible in English class because I had no interest. All these years later, I'm a writer and have even worked as a proofreader. I love words and discovering new ones. I got these all right - of course.
Thank you for a great video. I enjoyed that these words came from other countries and languages. I scored all 15 correctly. Thanks Doctor George Whitehead
15 of 15. Attribute to many years of foreign travel and reading habits. Also could that I am 82 years and have many had many life experiences in my long career. Advice to the young, Read travel learn and work hard.
Shocked, I was 15 for 15! I am a US born, English speaker but took 3 yrs of French and 4 yrs Latin many yrs ago in high school. I hope to learn Spanish when I retire in the next yr or two. I did not know the origin of some of the words though. Very interesting!
15/15. Taught a variety of English and education courses on the university level for 40+ years. People don't read as they once did years ago, and they don't understand that to be a good writer you have to be an active and avid reader.
Hello Sir Brian Wiles, I would like to ask you a few questions about English Grammar, please. They are: Singing and dancing are David's hobbies. Singing and dancing is David's hobbies. the next three days three days later within two weeks in two weeks Let me know whether the sentences and phrases I write are correct or incorrect. Please explain them to me, Sir Brian.
singing and dancing ARE David's hobbies. The verb should be 3rd person plural because the subject is plural - dancing and singing - as is 'hobbies'.. The rest are all correct. Non require apostrophes.
15 for 15.. I'm 63 and have been an avid reader since I was a child. I had never come across this channel before and thought I would participate. I always knew the English language had incorporated words from other languages but I was surprised at how many more and how far from England the words were from. This was interesting. Thank you.
15/15-Great content! I teach elementary school, but I think your videos would be perfect to show to high school English classes. I remember my 10th grade English teacher had us go through a couple of volumes of a college-level vocabulary text. We would be tested on about 20 words a week. I still remember dregs being one of my favorite words from those books!🤣 I love that you give the origins of the words, I find this fascinating!
Got them all, but I've been voracious reader for six plus decades. Several of these words would not be used in normal conversation (imbroglio or ennui for example) so more likely be unidentifiable. And even knowing them I would not use them in conversation as most people would - correctly - think I was being a bit snobbish. A good example of how one can learn words that are not use in everyday conversation happened when I lived in France. I was working in a restaurant in Avignon, France and reading as many French stories as I could. One day the chef looked at me strangely and asked me to repeat myself. I did and he laughed. He told me I had used a word that even most French people would never use, and a great many would not even recognize. There is the difference between spoken and written speech.
I have a larger than average English vocabulary. I didn't miss any. However I mostly know ennui from helping my daughter prepare for her SAT. I also know it from the few words of French I know. I compared the word boredom and ennui with Google ngrams. The word, boredom, is about ten times as common as the word ennui. That surprised me. My sense of it is that I encounter the word ennui less than once a year. I expected ennui to be much less common than the word boredom than it was. Ngrams shows the word ennui and the word boredom being about equally common in 1912, After that, boredom became much more common. I am old, but I wasn't around for the heyday of ennui as an English word.
15. A+. Someone once questioned my use of the word “verboten“, saying that it was an affectation. I told them that many of us Americans are descendants of German immigrants and these words have come down through the family and are in common usage. Cultures rub against each other and pick up pieces as all the 15 words in the video attest to.
Got 'em all, but had to make an educated guess at PALAVER. Born in 1951, so I was lucky enough to receive a thorough, solid education during my school years.
19 year old Indian here Got only 10 right, the wrongs were : boon docks , palavar , ennui , imbroglio , serendipity !! Please give me a review, if I am bad or slow for my age I used to take pride in my English , but guess people learn new things everyday
@@lakshmanansrinivasan8701 All those languages along with a few Indian languages, like Hindi or other regional languages !! You are something else my friend !!
so insightful, it makes me remember that in lieu or despite all languages, there is still something so special about english! BTW Brian, I'm starting to learn and mostly i wish to improve greatly with my arabic - I'm self studying fuusa / MSA. what is the best and most user-friendly textbook I could use? thank you :)
It was very easy. The interesting part was learning where these words come from. I would have been happy for the video to be twice as long if you had said more about their origin. eg. Narcissism is derived from the Greek myth about Narcissus, a beautiful young man who rejected all of his admirers as not good enough and then fell in love with his own reflection in a pond. Unable to look away, or have his affection returned, he wasted away and was turned into the Narcissus flower. I would like to know what's behind the other 14.
I am a native English speaker. Let me relate some humbling facts about "world class" vocabulary. 1. In the 1930s, Clifton Fadiman came up with a list of the 100 best books every written. With revisions, the list is up to 133 titles. 2. There is a list of winners of the Nobel Prizes in literature. 3. I have a personal reading program which has included all 133 books and a publication by each Nobel Prize winner. I continuously write down words that I don't know, look up the definitions and put both on 3x5 cards and review. 4. There is always something that I don't know - clothing materials, the words for different types of conveyances 100 years ago, religious dress clothing. Of course, the average Joe living at the time would know the words. 5. Language is very fluid. The other day, a sentence was given, in writing, in French. A series of words in English were provided, with some additional throw-away words. You were requested to construct the same sentence in English. I could not do it even though all the English words were there. A native French speaker raised in Paris was shown the same challenge. Couldn't do it. English has 6 verb tenses. French has 12 tenses and moods. So, we clicked on the "answer" and agreed that it was not a correct translation.
My favorite: sesquipedalian. A long word that means 'long word'. I had a friend that was a third generation Italian American from the North End in Boston. She employed tons of Itanglish, but my favorite was always 'miscombroglio'. Ie: 'I would've been here earlier but there was a big miscombroglio on the highway.'
Loved the countries of origin because this I didn't know. I knew the definitions of all 5 words though and use some often enough because they are so exact to a nuanced description!
*15/15 ...exposed to good books starting at age 5, and I was never restricted in my choice of books. As I had my children, I would read to them on an average of an hour a day. When my oldest was in third grade, he asked if he could read my copy of The Hobbit, so I had him read a page, which he did flawlessly, but then I asked him to explain what he had read, and his comprehension confirmed he would love the book, which he did. I only had to challenge one school librarian, I think it was in 6th grade, he picked a book from the 7-8th grade section, he was told he could not check it out, I challenged that on his behalf, she stuck to her guns, but the Principle overruled her decision, because he was a good educator. I'm 69, and read to my grandchildren to their hearts content.*
10/15 from the Philippines. It is interesting that the origin of the word boondocks comes from the filipino word bundok, meaning mountain. Pretty cool video!
Yep and taken back to the States by soldiers - so maybe a Philipine word used by Americans but not an English word used by any other English speaking nation
Fun and informative quiz, Mr. Wiles. I enjoyed it immensely! I've always had a good command of the English language, but must admit that I wasn't sure what "ennui" meant, or how to pronounce it. Now, I KNOW! Thank you very much! I'm also going to check out Preply, as I'm currently learning French, for FUN, and also because it's such a SEXY language 😜❤️👍😄💕!!!
I'm from Philippines but i was confused about the pronunciation of bundok and I just have a guess and I got it after a second 😂😂 bundok is a rural area and usually in the mountain Hi brian I love the way you teach here
I knew them all. I felt many of the multiple choices weren't especially challenging (or interesting or educational), from either grouping, but you might've selected them for a specific reason. Knowing the languages of origin was the interesting feature.
Out of 15 questions I did 13 my hobby reading I'm originally from Somalia live in Columbus Ohio Vocabulary I got today is narcissism I knew before your explanation is best thanks for your Vocabulary video clip a
I am a Soufh African male in my 60's and got Kotow wrong. I am not an Englisman, although I do concider myself as not so ignorant about the world out there. This was interesting.
14/15. I'm Filipino and English is not my first language, but I work as a copy editor. The word _palaver_ tripped me. I know I've heard that word before but I have totally no concept of its meaning. By the way, _boondocks_ is spelled _bundok_ and pronounced the same way in English without the s. It means "mountains" in our vernacular.
That was fun! I got 15 correct. I noticed that you said the word "turquoise" was from Turkish, but actually it is a French word meaning "turkish". Next, I'll try your 21-word quiz!
Thank for the content!!! All we need is the right advice on how to invest in crypto and we will be set for life , made $28k from trading crypto and stocks.🚀,
Yes! I'm celebrating £32K stock portfolio today... Started this journey with £3K.... I've invested no time and also with the right terms, now I have time for my family an…
when someone is straight forward and good at what she does best. People will always speak for them. For me I can would say give Mrs Jenna Brooklyn of finance education a try and you be happy you did
Hi Brian, very interesting, congrats!! Let me say that it was pretty easy to get all 15. I guess being Spanish helped a lot (because it is so similar to Portuguese, Italian, French. Palaver -- palabra, imbroglio -- embrollo, and so on, easy peasy :). BUT my English is not that good, not at all, getting 15 (unfortunately) does not imply a mastery of English. These are mostly foreign words imported almost verbatim into English. I wish I didn't know any of these words but could speak English well :-) Keep up the good work !
How refreshing to see a channel devoted to expanding the English vocabulary rather than kowtowing (😉) to the mess that some people call language today. My 2 pet peeves: conversating and tooken. When people use either of those “words”, I immediately tune out. I don’t deal with made up words.
I couldnt recall exact meanings of boondocks and palaver altho I've come across these words and may have looked up the meanings. The others are fairly common in usage over here in Msia - mostly in writings. This channel moves swiftly and succintly which makes it fun.
15/15. But I had good teachers and am an avid reader. I always have a dictionary handy because you never know when an author is going to pull a fast one.
As a native French speaker, I am often surprised at how many French words may be used in their unadulterated form in English. "Ennui" is a good example - It simply means boredom in French, but I did not know it could be used as an English word. Careful though; Some words may be used across languages, but their meaning may vary, often creating embarrassment . The funny part is the people with the greatest international grasp of languages are the most likely to be caught out by mis-application of words they know perfectly well, but whose meanings have experienced a shift across the language barrier - often related to a popular movie or song that the language expert may not be aware of.
As an educated native speaker this wasn't hard for me but I can't remember ever hearing angst, ennui, boondocks (more common in the US) or imbroglio used in normal conversation. Also in the UK palaver usually means an overly-complicated process or unnecessary amount of fuss to get something done.
I had no ennui or angst taking this quiz.... 15 out of 15 ....It was a bonanza of information and I found it serendipitous to have found your channel. 👍👍😎👍👍
I got them all right too
Palaver and Ennui stumped me. I'm 80 and extremely literate, but apparently not literate enough (*Blush*). This is the first of these videos in which I have not known all the words. I have learned something, proving that you CAN teach an old dog a new trick or two! (Retired in northwest Arkansas, USA)
Haha thanks for sharing- and great work!
I'm guessing that palaver is not used a great deal in the US. It is used a lot in the UK although it is pronounced a bit differently. It is used a lot with the old cockneys of London when they would often say "What a palaver" The British pronounce it as per lah ver. I'm with you on the Ennui never heard of that.
Those were the two I had trouble with also, and I'm a native English speaker. I've heard ennui before but never really knew what it meant. I'd never heard palaver and only guessed it was related to the Spanish word "palo" (stick) which it clearly is not.
I’m Australian and familiar with palaver so maybe it has more of a UK based usage - in general it tends to be informally ie among friends that it would in a professional setting.
Probably because he pronounced palaver incorrectly and Ennui is not an English word
Ennui stumped me. I'm an English teacher. We never stop learning. Thank you for your informative videos.
I knew the word from Dune (book). This was the scene where Paul was telling the spacing guild to get the ships out of there or he will destroy the source of the Spice. I love being kept on my toes and learning new things. Cheers.
I learned "ennui" in my teens because it's used in the first verse of Cole Porter's 'I Get A Kick Out Of You' (1936).
"Palaver," on the other hand, stumped me.
Me too! I don't know French!!😂
I learned because of inside out 2😅
In French, ennui is just the word for boredom. I find it pretty funny that as a loanword it takes on a much narrower and almost exclusively literary meaning.
I got them all. But I'm 76. It takes time to pick up the words. And also respect for language.
I'm 75. I paused the video after each word because I don't like to be rushed.
Like you, I got them all.
I'm 63, and got them all right. I doubt anyone who doesn't read regularly could get half of them. Encourage your kids to read!
I expect you are an avid reader.
@@TheTomBevis It's a lifetime effort, starting with vocabulary in school.
I'm 76 also & got them all.
76 also and 15/15 😅
Studied Latin, German, and French in high school and read a lot. It all helps!!
Thanks for the fun “test”
Man, you are, by far, one of the best English teachers on RUclips and your channel is very useful and well organized, because you subtitle all of your videos. Thank you so much. Cheers from Brazil.
I’m not a native english speaker but I still got 11/15 I can say I’m kinda proud 😊
You should be. I'm a one language American. We are disparaged for a long of stupid reasons but we certainly don't do other languages. It is getting to be that Spanish is good to know.
That is awesome. One of the things I thought about as I took the test is how hard it would be to learn a second language well enough to do OK on the test.
I would be proud just to have a second language.
well done!
Well done indeed. An 11 out of 15 for a non native English speaker is awesome!
15/15: native language - British English. Please note: 'boondocks', or 'boonies' is not a word in common use in the UK. It's sheer serendipity 😁 that I know the word at all....from American 'movies' (also an American word!).
In America "boondocks" is far more than mere rural, it's way out in the "sticks"....
Was about to comment the same: not British English at all.
@@steveking2877 Well, being merely rural myself, that is how it would be used around me.
So far, I have gotten them all. But the hosts delivery of the questions and answers is perfection.
As a Moroccan. It's my first time hearing 'Hazard' was arabic
Yes indeed! Here's a bit more background if you're interested: www.etymonline.com/word/hazard
يقصد حذر او حاذر
@@JeNom-g5rالزهر كريات الزهر
@@JeNom-g5r مدري يقصد حذر ولا خطر
He is wrong. The etymology of word "hazard" is Persian.
Not to make this a rant but this really helps me feel like I’m not actually dumb. I’ve failed English through out my whole school life. I can barely do punctuation and grammar. My spelling is atrocious. I do a lot of run on sentences and I never got any help for it. I feel very insecure about my English but doing these and knowing the words make feel a little better.
Glad to know that you are feeling better about your English speaking abilities! I wish you good luck with your journey!
@@bunnybird9342 thanks.I mean I’am a 34yr old 100% American that can barely spell. It’s really embarrassing. school crippled my self esteem in learning so I work harder now. it does make me feel good I am in the c2 bracket on his test how I don’t know but I am happy
Your comment does not reflect your assessment. ie. It is very well written. No spelling errors, and the hyphen and comma choices you made are not hard and fast here. Upper case where you needed it, end punctuation, no run ons . . . what's not to love?
I thought my English was excellent, then I see several words I've never even come across before. Learn something new everyday!
15/15 I am 77, started reading adult level books at 4. I have been an almost compulsive reader all my life. Fortunately, as a child, TV was not very interesting and I went to the library every week. My mother had to write a letter for the library that I could check out books written for adults.
15/15. English second language. Kindred spirit, l am 83, self- taught reader just before 4. Household in rural area with no books, only newspapers and magazines and no library. Moved to city at age 12 and immediately enrolled at library, only checking out boojs from adult section. Still reading avidly, 200+ books annually.Do not own TV and only social media is RUclips.
@@CarlSteynI’m rlly happy ur extremely good at the language I enjoy it, im non native and in middle school I got 15/15❤.
TV helps for English too, books, movies, commercials, etcetera. You need a visual image for a better understanding. Doesn't matter if you use social media or not, but if you do, just know the mental health consequences of using it. Coming from a 14-year-old.
15/15. I am 71. According to Amazon Kindle, I read almost 300 books a year. My mom used to read to me a lot as a child. She taught me to read and love it. They were my distraction when she was busy.
15/15. I'm sixty-nine, but I read at an age seventy-four level.
Not a native, but I'm fluent and pretty confident when it comes to vocabulary. However I only got 11 right. The remaining 4 words were completely new to me. Thank you for your video)
15. I took Latin in high school & it has expanded my vocabulary tremendously.
Me too.
I also took French for many years and a little bit of Italian and Spanish. Languages always intrigued me.
Out of curiosity; Where did you go to High School?
Or I guess my real question is: How common is it for high school,students in the US today to study Latin or Greek?
Yup Yup.......I learned more about the English language from my two years of high school Latin than all my other English classes combined.
@@gregfaris6959 Not very common any more I'm afraid......I was class of 77 and the teacher retired a couple years later and that was the end of the Latin program.
8 out of 15. Never came across other 7 since I started to learn English on my own in 2018.
If you aren't a native English speaker, 7 is an excellent score. That type of vocabulary is hard to get until you have read a LOT of English books (you most certainly won't pick many of these words up from spoken English! Especially in the USA!!).
@rbarnes4076 I have definitely read more than 50 English books. Apparently they were not serious enough. Adventures and detectives.
15 of 15. Native English speaker and around for about eight decades and read a lot. Knew them all cold except "imbroglio", but I guessed right. Here is one of my favorite things about words from the TV show NCIS:
McGee: "What are we looking for?"
Abby: "Anything hinky."
McGee: "Why do use that word?"
Abby: "What word?"
McGee: "Hinky. It's a made up word."
Abby: "All words are made up words."
Haha there's certainly some true to that... And nice job getting all 15!
15/15! Palaver was a lucky guess, hearing it for the first time 😊
Great work, Thomas!
Hi Thomas it's really my pleasure being friends with you 👋
Palaver was a well educated guess for me, I understood it as casual negotiations.
But if you know French, Spanish and Italian you have a better guess - knowing the Spanish "Palabro" and knowing the ambiguity that exists between the "b" and the "v" in that language, along with the popular French song; "Parole, parole parole",.... It's still a guess, but a more educated guess. I didn't know the word, but did get the answer based on this reasoning.
15/15 Thanks, Brian--great word selection, much fun.
So interesting to see the origins of these words.
I didn't know where some of them came from.
amazing video as always!
its so fascinating how a lot of english words actually come from other languages
Thank you so much! And yes, I’ve always been fascinated by that!
@@BrianWilesLanguages
and well, some people say they don’t like the fact but i really think that’s what makes english language even more fascinating as an international language
I’m a word person and I love your videos. 15/15 today. While ennui is a favorite word of mine I never new it was pronounced as on wee.!!!!!!
85 and love words.Taught English
It’s pronounced as in france
15/15 American all the way. Voracious and varied reader since 5 yo, 74 yo now. Love ereader that will show definitions, although I don't often find a new word. Being a perpetual student helped too. Reading is my greatest pleasure these days. 😂😅😊😊
"Palaver" was a word my colleague used often, and I wondered about its meaning. She is from one of the Caribbean islands, and now I finally know what it means. Thanks!
Anyone else have a sense of ennui with these easy words? I got all of them even before the options were given. Very serendipitous of us to have a bonanza of other options to peruse.
tsss you tried to sneak in peruse
Chuckle.
I ran across some of my writing from when I was 18 - atrocious. I was terrible in English class because I had no interest. All these years later, I'm a writer and have even worked as a proofreader. I love words and discovering new ones. I got these all right - of course.
Thank you for a great video. I enjoyed that these words came from other countries and languages. I scored all 15 correctly. Thanks Doctor George Whitehead
15 of 15. Attribute to many years of foreign travel and reading habits. Also could that I am 82 years and have many had many life experiences in my long career. Advice to the young, Read travel learn and work hard.
13 out of 15. The last 5 got me but now I know. Lesson well learned. Thank You!
Shocked, I was 15 for 15! I am a US born, English speaker but took 3 yrs of French and 4 yrs Latin many yrs ago in high school. I hope to learn Spanish when I retire in the next yr or two. I did not know the origin of some of the words though. Very interesting!
15/15. Taught a variety of English and education courses on the university level for 40+ years. People don't read as they once did years ago, and they don't understand that to be a good writer you have to be an active and avid reader.
You are exactly right. I didn't miss any because I read a lot. I'm really surprised how many people missed words.
Hello Sir Brian Wiles, I would like to ask you a few questions about English Grammar, please. They are: Singing and dancing are David's hobbies.
Singing and dancing is David's hobbies.
the next three days
three days later
within two weeks
in two weeks
Let me know whether the sentences and phrases I write are correct or incorrect. Please explain them to me, Sir Brian.
singing and dancing ARE David's hobbies. The verb should be 3rd person plural because the subject is plural - dancing and singing - as is 'hobbies'.. The rest are all correct. Non require apostrophes.
@@lindapearson881 none require
I enjoyed the quiz. I knew 15 out of 15. I try, when reading, to write down any unknown word, along with its definition.
15 for 15.. I'm 63 and have been an avid reader since I was a child.
I had never come across this channel before and thought I would participate.
I always knew the English language had incorporated words from other languages but I was surprised at how many more and how far from England the words were from.
This was interesting. Thank you.
There's an old joke: Some languages borrow words. English follows languages into dark alleys and mugs them.
@@johnopalko5223 That, I would say, is one way of looking how the language has evolved. And not necessarily wrong either.😀
15/15-Great content! I teach elementary school, but I think your videos would be perfect to show to high school English classes. I remember my 10th grade English teacher had us go through a couple of volumes of a college-level vocabulary text. We would be tested on about 20 words a week. I still remember dregs being one of my favorite words from those books!🤣 I love that you give the origins of the words, I find this fascinating!
Got them all, but I've been voracious reader for six plus decades. Several of these words would not be used in normal conversation (imbroglio or ennui for example) so more likely be unidentifiable. And even knowing them I would not use them in conversation as most people would - correctly - think I was being a bit snobbish. A good example of how one can learn words that are not use in everyday conversation happened when I lived in France. I was working in a restaurant in Avignon, France and reading as many French stories as I could. One day the chef looked at me strangely and asked me to repeat myself. I did and he laughed. He told me I had used a word that even most French people would never use, and a great many would not even recognize. There is the difference between spoken and written speech.
I have a larger than average English vocabulary. I didn't miss any. However I mostly know ennui from helping my daughter prepare for her SAT. I also know it from the few words of French I know.
I compared the word boredom and ennui with Google ngrams. The word, boredom, is about ten times as common as the word ennui. That surprised me. My sense of it is that I encounter the word ennui less than once a year. I expected ennui to be much less common than the word boredom than it was.
Ngrams shows the word ennui and the word boredom being about equally common in 1912, After that, boredom became much more common. I am old, but I wasn't around for the heyday of ennui as an English word.
15. A+. Someone once questioned my use of the word “verboten“, saying that it was an affectation. I told them that many of us Americans are descendants of German immigrants and these words have come down through the family and are in common usage. Cultures rub against each other and pick up pieces as all the 15 words in the video attest to.
Got 'em all, but had to make an educated guess at PALAVER. Born in 1951, so I was lucky enough to receive a thorough, solid education during my school years.
13/15 ..Non native speaker from India .I have never come across the word Boon Docks .
I should have answered Palaver correctly .
Very interesting.
19 year old Indian here Got only 10 right, the wrongs were : boon docks , palavar , ennui , imbroglio , serendipity !! Please give me a review, if I am bad or slow for my age
I used to take pride in my English , but guess people learn new things everyday
@@SonnyModi-gm7bk Very good .Since I know French,Spanish, Italian and German I could answer most of them .
@@lakshmanansrinivasan8701 All those languages along with a few Indian languages, like Hindi or other regional languages !! You are something else my friend !!
I'm from India and I am a Bengalee, and thank you for this great quiz.
In our language, we pronounce "pundit" as "pandit". BTW, I got 7/15.
so insightful, it makes me remember that in lieu or despite all languages, there is still something so special about english! BTW Brian, I'm starting to learn and mostly i wish to improve greatly with my arabic - I'm self studying fuusa / MSA. what is the best and most user-friendly textbook I could use? thank you :)
Thank You Eugene Field School. District 68 Park Ridge Illinois 1960's. You gave us the best there is.
It was very easy. The interesting part was learning where these words come from. I would have been happy for the video to be twice as long if you had said more about their origin. eg. Narcissism is derived from the Greek myth about Narcissus, a beautiful young man who rejected all of his admirers as not good enough and then fell in love with his own reflection in a pond. Unable to look away, or have his affection returned, he wasted away and was turned into the Narcissus flower. I would like to know what's behind the other 14.
I adore your content; It is really helpful
I am a native English speaker. Let me relate some humbling facts about "world class" vocabulary.
1. In the 1930s, Clifton Fadiman came up with a list of the 100 best books every written. With revisions, the list is up to 133 titles.
2. There is a list of winners of the Nobel Prizes in literature.
3. I have a personal reading program which has included all 133 books and a publication by each Nobel Prize winner.
I continuously write down words that I don't know, look up the definitions and put both on 3x5 cards and review.
4. There is always something that I don't know - clothing materials, the words for different types of conveyances 100 years ago, religious dress clothing. Of course, the average Joe living at the time would know the words.
5. Language is very fluid. The other day, a sentence was given, in writing, in French. A series of words in English were provided, with some additional throw-away words. You were requested to construct the same sentence in English. I could not do it even though all the English words were there. A native French speaker raised in Paris was shown the same challenge. Couldn't do it. English has 6 verb tenses. French has 12 tenses and moods. So, we clicked on the "answer" and agreed that it was not a correct translation.
My favorite: sesquipedalian.
A long word that means 'long word'.
I had a friend that was a third generation Italian American from the North End in Boston. She employed tons of Itanglish, but my favorite was always 'miscombroglio'. Ie: 'I would've been here earlier but there was a big miscombroglio on the highway.'
They were seated together on a flight.vs They were sitting together on a flight. Plz explain this in a great details,Sir!!
15/15. Australian here. Some of the origins I wasn't aware.
Loved the countries of origin because this I didn't know. I knew the definitions of all 5 words though and use some often enough because they are so exact to a nuanced description!
As a native English speaker, I'm embarrassed to have missed one: palaver. I love the presentation in this video!
Got 14/15 love it!🎉
Not a native speaker. 15/15, but has been reading a lot and watching tons of RUclips videos on absolutely random topics. Turns out it helps a lot.
*15/15 ...exposed to good books starting at age 5, and I was never restricted in my choice of books. As I had my children, I would read to them on an average of an hour a day. When my oldest was in third grade, he asked if he could read my copy of The Hobbit, so I had him read a page, which he did flawlessly, but then I asked him to explain what he had read, and his comprehension confirmed he would love the book, which he did. I only had to challenge one school librarian, I think it was in 6th grade, he picked a book from the 7-8th grade section, he was told he could not check it out, I challenged that on his behalf, she stuck to her guns, but the Principle overruled her decision, because he was a good educator. I'm 69, and read to my grandchildren to their hearts content.*
10/15 from the Philippines. It is interesting that the origin of the word boondocks comes from the filipino word bundok, meaning mountain. Pretty cool video!
Yep and taken back to the States by soldiers - so maybe a Philipine word used by Americans but not an English word used by any other English speaking nation
Fun and informative quiz, Mr. Wiles. I enjoyed it immensely! I've always had a good command of the English language, but must admit that I wasn't sure what "ennui" meant, or how to pronounce it. Now, I KNOW! Thank you very much! I'm also going to check out Preply, as I'm currently learning French, for FUN, and also because it's such a SEXY language 😜❤️👍😄💕!!!
12/15 I really enjoyed participating. Thank you for sharing your content.
I'm from Philippines but i was confused about the pronunciation of bundok and I just have a guess and I got it after a second 😂😂 bundok is a rural area and usually in the mountain
Hi brian I love the way you teach here
I knew them all. I felt many of the multiple choices weren't especially challenging (or interesting or educational), from either grouping, but you might've selected them for a specific reason. Knowing the languages of origin was the interesting feature.
Good quiz. I got all right, but the last five were a challenge, I'll admit.
15/15, I had to really think on a couple of the words. Good exercise for the old grey matter!
Of the 1000's of books I've read, I'd never encountered ennui....and my life hasn't missed a beat. Quite a stretch to include that one!
Out of 15 questions I did 13 my hobby reading I'm originally from Somalia live in Columbus Ohio
Vocabulary I got today is narcissism I knew before your explanation is best thanks for your Vocabulary video clip
a
11 of 15
I knew them all, thank you for posting your video.
15/15. Thanks! Now I know the origin of "serendipity." Had to Google the original tale, which was an Italian translation of a Persian story.
I am a Soufh African male in my 60's and got Kotow wrong. I am not an Englisman, although I do concider myself as not so ignorant about the world out there. This was interesting.
Got them all right but didn’t realise which languages they came from. Very cool.
14/15. I'm Filipino and English is not my first language, but I work as a copy editor. The word _palaver_ tripped me. I know I've heard that word before but I have totally no concept of its meaning. By the way, _boondocks_ is spelled _bundok_ and pronounced the same way in English without the s. It means "mountains" in our vernacular.
I got 14, bonanza was my undoing, thanks,just subscribed
80 years old. 15/15. Very interesting!
That was fun! I got 15 correct. I noticed that you said the word "turquoise" was from Turkish, but actually it is a French word meaning "turkish". Next, I'll try your 21-word quiz!
Got all 15. Had to guess with "kowtow". Thanks for the examples.
I know all the words because I am a native speaker of English, but I learned something new, I had no idea the origin of boondocks was tagalog.
Thank for the content!!! All we need is the right advice on how to invest in crypto and we will be set for life , made $28k from trading crypto and stocks.🚀,
As a beginner what do I need to do? How can I invest, on which platform? If you know any please share.
Yes! I'm celebrating £32K stock portfolio today...
Started this journey with £3K.... I've invested no time and also with the right terms, now I have time for my family an…
when someone is straight forward and good at what she does best. People will always speak for them. For me I can would say give Mrs Jenna Brooklyn of finance education a try and you be happy you did
Started with 5,000$ and Withdrew profits
89,000$
I'm glad to write her tay I do hope she will help handle my paycheck properly☺️☺️☺️
Can I start with as low as $1,000?
Hi Brian, very interesting, congrats!! Let me say that it was pretty easy to get all 15. I guess being Spanish helped a lot (because it is so similar to Portuguese, Italian, French. Palaver -- palabra, imbroglio -- embrollo, and so on, easy peasy :). BUT my English is not that good, not at all, getting 15 (unfortunately) does not imply a mastery of English. These are mostly foreign words imported almost verbatim into English. I wish I didn't know any of these words but could speak English well :-) Keep up the good work !
How refreshing to see a channel devoted to expanding the English vocabulary rather than kowtowing (😉) to the mess that some people call language today. My 2 pet peeves: conversating and tooken. When people use either of those “words”, I immediately tune out. I don’t deal with made up words.
15/15! I'm Scottish, but my English is impeccable! 😁
15 German Born and bred, but have lived in the US most of my life
I have one question? How many year or month did you take to learn or to speak chinises language fluently? Pls answer me 🙏
Aced it!!! From the Italian braggadocio!😅 The "origins" were great to know.👍
Got them all, but I've always been an avid reader and I look up words I don't know. The last five were good ones!
Got all 15. Thanks for sharing! D
I couldnt recall exact meanings of boondocks and palaver altho I've come across these words and may have looked up the meanings. The others are fairly common in usage over here in Msia - mostly in writings. This channel moves swiftly and succintly which makes it fun.
15/15. But I had good teachers and am an avid reader. I always have a dictionary handy because you never know when an author is going to pull a fast one.
As a native French speaker, I am often surprised at how many French words may be used in their unadulterated form in English.
"Ennui" is a good example - It simply means boredom in French, but I did not know it could be used as an English word.
Careful though; Some words may be used across languages, but their meaning may vary, often creating embarrassment .
The funny part is the people with the greatest international grasp of languages are the most likely to be caught out by mis-application of words they know perfectly well, but whose meanings have experienced a shift across the language barrier - often related to a popular movie or song that the language expert may not be aware of.
I got 15 out of 15. Too easy. But I am a 40-year-old native English speaker.
I got 13 right! Thank goodness!
15 of 15. That Jesuit education has never let me down.
14/15 (I doubted my first choice, mistake). I enjoyed learning the word origins. Well done, three seconds suffice, you know it or you don't.
15 of 15, I read a full encyclopedia set at 9 years old. 73 now
8/15 my CECR result is C1 but the result is not many may expect. I am heraing3 most of the word for the first time
I knew every single word by age 12.... Then again my mother was also an English teacher.
Amazing lesson😊keep it up❤
This is really helpful
thanks, giving the choices i was able to pick out the answers, if i had to just give the answers, i could not do it.
15 out of 15. But I have always been a reader. When I found a word or phrase I did not know or was unsure about, I would do research.
As an educated native speaker this wasn't hard for me but I can't remember ever hearing angst, ennui, boondocks (more common in the US) or imbroglio used in normal conversation. Also in the UK palaver usually means an overly-complicated process or unnecessary amount of fuss to get something done.
All 15 again. your quizzes are fun but pretty easy🤪
15/15. English BA and Masters degree. Also had the role of Narcissus in the third grade play.
13/15 thank you !,