Words on Wednesday: Little Red Notebook

When I was studying for the GREs, I knew that the vocabulary section was going to slowly and painfully nibble at my soul.  Unfortunately, I didn't account for this when I scheduled the exam and opted to take it less than 24 hours before my Latin final.  Poor planning, I know.  Latin is a very useful language to know (one of my resolutions is to pick it back up this year), but attempting to cram Latin, GRE vocab, and GRE math into my brain during the same time period turned out to be rough.

To help keep my GRE vocabulary separate from the vocabulary of the Ancient Romans, I began writing every word from my study guide into a little red notebook.  I included words that I had no idea what they meant, words I had heard before, but was unsure of the exact definition, and words that I knew, but wanted to solidify in my head.

Terrariums over a month after the replant are going strong!

After I took the GREs, I decided we had gotten too close for me to just dump the LRN.  So, for the last couple of years (I can't put a number on it or I'll cry at how long ago college was), I have continued to write down words I come across that stump or intrigue me.  Hit the jump for this week's WoW!


When divine inspiration hasn't struck for WoW, I consult my LRN.  There are nearly 70 pages of words with cryptic notes and a color-coding that I sometimes forget the meaning of, especially when I haven't opened the book in a few weeks (or months).  Today's WoW is from page 16 of the LRN:

bucolic, adj.

        1. rustic and pastoral
        2. characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants

This is a great word for the city mice out there to describe their country mouse friend.