Published on 12, July, 2020
The stereotyped autistic person is obsessed with maths, science, technology, but I wondered if there is another type who is obsessed with words, correcting word mistakes, dictionaries, learning new words etc. A Word Nerd.
I am a proud Word Nerd, I have zero interest or skills in maths, science, technology. It is a reason I didn't even consider I was autistic until I was in my 40s/50s- I wasn't a computer geek, so I couldn't be autistic, could I?
What do you think?
I have zero interest in numbers, I have almost zero ability in mental arithmetic. My maths, otherwise, is OK, not particularly good, but adequate for a biologist.I love words, I once got the word 'involute' into a scientific paper and was very happy. Give me an etymological dictionary and it will amuse me for the rest of the day.
Oh yes isn't it exciting when you can use an unusual word, or when you find a word you don't know the meaning of! I love finding new words. Or inventing them. Pointful should be a word. Also Coolth (opposite of Warmth).
I love dictionaries- etymological, phrase and fable, any really! Do you follow Suzy Dent? She is always tweeting unusual words. Also Tom Read Wilson, Stephen Fry...
I think the reason you don’t hear coolth is cool is already used that way. One can enjoy the warmth of the sun or the cool of the breeze.
I willn't disagree with you there.
We really should use willn't rather than won't. At school we used backslang a lot, you could get away with lots of swearing. I once knew the lyrics of the Goodies' 'Funky Gibbon' in backslang.
I've never heard anyone say coolth except my mum in the 1980s. Even you wrote cool and not coolth?