If You Know These 20 Words, Your English is TOP 1% Worldwide!
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- Опубліковано 21 гру 2024
- Is your English vocabulary better than 99% of speakers worldwide? If you answer all 20 of these questions correctly, the answer is YES.
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I watched the video twice and I’m now in the top 1%.
LOL ;)
😂😂
Dentists hate this one simple trick
Kudos. 😂
Came into this hoping to be in the 1%, left with the realization that If you use the 1% vocabulary, 99% of people can't understand you!
Please don’t ❤oo
My husband has accused me of speaking in 1% for decades. I was grounded horribly as a teenager, with literally nothing to do but read either a dictionary, encyclopedia or Reader's Digest. I had a $#!+ social life but a great vocabulary, for what that's worth.
Oh, and I wasn't a bad kid, my Mom was just horribly overprotective, especially with me being the baby of her 3 kids. I can laugh about it now but it sure did suck growing up.
None of these words are all that difficult, I know this video is obviously bait but it's kinda sad that these are seen as particularly impressive words.
Good. Plebs
More important than KNOWING the actual meaning of The correct word is the ability to rapidly eliminate those erronius choices with confidence. I missed 2 in the final group only
19/20 - retired sixth grade teacher here. Never heard the word "obloquy" in my entire long life. THX
No obloquy in my vocab.
Me too! On both counts.
Same on both counts!
I think I actually HAVE heard it before, but I still missed it in this quiz .
19/20 - and I knew “lacuna” only because I’d done some reading on the Dead Sea Scrolls in years past.
@@darrellbrindley6029 I only knew lacuna through it's use to describe some mushroom features.
European immigrant here
Self taught English..
Scored 16/20.
Yay !!!
I suppose a lick of Latin from high school was helping .
English is an interesting language - a mishmash of Latin, Germanic, and Romance languages. As a native speaker, I’ve often wondered how others perceive it since it is so common and yet so eclectic.
1 out of 20. The lacuna in my exiguous vocabulary has been ignominiously revealed.
Obloquy was my downfall
great statement
@@plausible_dinosaurI’d be surprised that 1% know obloquy. I lucked out with lacuna from having watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
No worries! Or as I like to say - "Lacuna Matatata"!
1 wrong or 1 right?
This video becomes a lot more engaging if you try to guess what the words are before you get your multiple choice answers
I actually did that and got a few of them, I'm not going to brag out my gre scores, but I will say I went to private schools that taught us how to take exams, its a skill that comes in handy.
I'm very proud of myself as a non native speaker because I guessed many of them... and got 19/20. But my English is most definitely not among the top 1%. Any native speaker would beat me a million times. 😊
@@mayhu3282 if you have a good grounding in latin it helps a lot. I think as a native speaker it might be worse, especially native English speakers will only put in the minimum effort because that is all they need.
i had that happen once or twice
I'd have done a lot worse. Lol. 😂
20 correct but have to admit that I guessed on #19. I am 76. I was really poor growing up and one day my elementary school was getting rid of books in bad condition. I asked if I could have one and my teacher said yes. I picked a dictionary. My teacher threw in a thesaurus. Hungry for words, pronunciations, and meanings as an ESLminority kid, I read that dictionary from cover to cover. It was a life changer for me. Thank you Mrs. Feldman. ❤
What a lovely story! I work with kids with reading disability and it makes me sad when they hate reading....they miss out on the beauty of the English language.
That is incredible! I don't think I know anyone who has read a dictionary from cover to cover.
this is so wonderful!! good teachers and eager-to-learn kids are the best combo :)
I missed the last 4.
That's so good! I got 18. Never heard the word demurred before
Love learning new words though.
Got 14 correct, the last couple of words I never heard of. they are in fact so rare that I'll probably just forget them again the moment I click off this video.
I got the same, and was able to anticipate a few of the words that were used before posted. That said the last 5 or so were most
Y words I’d never he@rd of or didn’t know what they meant. It was actually surprising so I need to start reading my encyclopedia again. 😂
14 as well...
Questions 1-15: 😄
Questions 16-20: 😨
For the record, I managed 17/20. But I am proud to say I guessed seven of the words before the options were even shown 😎
Yeah I was coasting the first 15 and feeling rather smug. Got 18/20. Humbling.
The last 5 are truly insane. Even though I finished with a 19/20 (I botched up Chimera), I knew like two words out of 4 for Q16-20.
Likewise. From 16-20, i ended up getting 3 wrong, or rather, I didn’t know the answer to 3 of them. Guessed 1 correct. Knew all the answers from 1-15. Wow! Love those last 4 words though!
Same. I knew all the words except obloquy, but chimera had me thinking about that Fullmetal alchemist scene.. "daddy.." 😢
@@neodonkey Native Swedish speaker here. Managed 18 out of 20 as well. Thought it was going to be a walk in the park. Indeed, feeling humbled is the word.
Let's be honest, if any of us heard someone use the last 3 words in a real conversation we'd roll our eyes so hard it'd throw us off balance.
To be fair, it's far more likely to be used in writing rather than speech. In any case, I despise the assumption that people with a broad vocabulary are being necessarily pretentious; it's another form of anti-intellectualism or at least, inverted snobbery. In this age of narrowing vocabularies, managerial buzzwords, grammatical mistakes and the normalised malapropism, I'm happy to hear a rarely-used word. If I'm bold enough to look or sound puzzled, the person speaking usually clarifies without being a prat.
i had a roommate that would use words like that. I needed a distionary to talk to him sometimes.
😆😂Bazinga! I've got to remember that!
@@deborahcurtis1385 but it is an example of lacking the social skills to know your audience.
@@basedstreamingatcozy-dot-t7126
I'm speaking meaningfully I hope, about anti intellectualism and frankly laziness. A sign of intelligence is curiosity. Celebrating being sneery instead is not something to be encouraged, even if it is socially popular.
In fact, quite the opposite. Quite happy if you want to misconstrue that as being a snob, prat or elitist. It's your failure to want to spread curiosity and rather lame to call it 'failure to read the room' and cause eyerolls. I think the subject has been fully wrung out here in this limited medium, with all the implications about personal failure called from both sides. If you imagine that narrowed vocabulary doesn't affect concepts then read John Ralston Saul's 'Voltaire's Bastards'. It's an excellent book. I sent it to my father and he said it was the best book he'd ever read.
I'm German, not an English genius. I got 19 out of 20 correct. Knowing Latin prefixes and suffixes is a great help.
Good job!
Spanish speaker here (17/20), knowing a roman languaje helped a lot
What was the one? Was it obloquy? That one seems to have gotten most people.
When I was in high school, rather than have weekly vocabulary lists, my English teacher taught us Latin/Greek roots. I think it's the most important thing I learned in 12 years of English instruction. I almost wish I had had the opportunity to study Latin.
@@bemusedbandersnatch2069 I almost think that one is so completely obscure that it was unfair.
18 of 20, learned two words I never heard before, learn something new every day, thanks. 77yrs.
Before clicking the video I was expecting to get all of them easily. I got 15 out of 20. Humbled.
Same
Same
Same 😂
If you expected to get all of them, the humbling moment was well deserved.
@ yup. I am fully humbled and crying in a corner. Happy?
I got 16/20. As a fifteen year old, this definitely uplifted my self-esteem.
I also got 16/20
Hell yeah reading books is epic, keep it up
good job 17 at the moment and got to number 15 before losing so hell yeah
Well done!
Alright young people...ace those SATs. Stay in school.
20 correct. Am 79, studied French, German and Latin for 7 years and it's the Latin that kept me on track.
@@rogernichols1124 Studying Latin will help in many ways. I’m about halfway through my study and, as you stated, it keeps you on track. Knowing Latin also helps in understanding the meaning of words that you may not have come across before but also their etymology.
Oh.
That is the point: those words are similar in many languages. This test is not to be considered about English language but about cultural level. Not being aware of this shows self-referetiality and poor knowledge of other languages.
Latin education on the west coast of the US, was sorely missing from the curriculum. I think I filled in the gap by studying science and Spanish, but I know it would have helped.
@@XX-fn6ky Excellent point. It also helps that I am able to read and speak French tolerably.
That definition of chimera is such a massive stretch that it can't be found on page one of my browser search results.
It’s the primary definition, unless you’re in the context of Greek mythology.
@@turunturun although I got that question correct, my primary association with that word other than mythological creature is biology, where a chimera is a mosaic of genetically different cells, such as when twins fuse very early in the womb and the surviving singleton individual is actually a mosaic of cells with his sibling's DNA, together with his own cells with his own DNA, functioning as just a single individual. So to me a chimera mostly means an integral fusion of two different creatures/individuals as one, and doesn't have to imply "impossible." But, that use is really more recent than the literary use with the meaning used in the question.
@@turunturunIt is most commonly used in said Greek context and is the primary definition in Oxford's.
@@ElizabethDMadisonThe biological terminology is borrowed from the Greek :)
I prefer the TVR Chimera myself. This video taught me that it's not just a made-up car name.
19/20. Obloquy got me. I have spent a lifetime looking up the meanings of words. I am particularly fascinated with etymology, the origin of words and word roots. For example, 'obloquy' comes from the Latin 'ob-' against and 'loqui' to speak. Therefore, 'obloquy' has the original meaning of 'to speak out against' something.
I won't take anything much beyond Latin but sometimes to ancient Greek Don't wanna think that hard although sometimes it gets to the "Anima Mundi" 8.5 billion minds, we all have to be on the same page more often than not But ersatz? the Germans couldn't get coffe in WWII and resorted to toasted grain (taste only) I think that "Postum" is still being made. I'll take the real thing, with caffeine thank you very much
Awesome ❤❤
My result also, which surprised me as I expected to get them all. About two thirds of them I correctly predicted before the choices were shown. Probably good for me to be humbled every now and then.
The word sanguine is related to blood. Is it not?
@@Jack_Callcott_AU The sense of sanguine as cheerful came originally from the thought that if your face was flushed (bloody) you were cheerful and optomistic
Chimera was a trick question no one has ever heard that word’s second definition.
I got 17/20 and learned the pronunciation of some words I’ve only ever read before. Great video!
Yep I failed at 18 onwards
Oh I also got number 2 wrong, not because I didn't know what candor meant, but because I couldn't fathom it in a sentence being used positively about a politician 🤣
Same here. Going to have to show this to my 94 year old librarian grandmother next time I’m home to see if she is happy or disappointed with me.
@@meateawThe hint is that it supposedly impresses both his supporters and critics, but… nah would never happen in real life.
I got held up on coalesce because I was like “this is the only one that makes grammatical sense but using coalesce here would just be very weird word choice.” So I was right but I was like “this is a dumb sentence”.
Yep, chimera is something completely different in my vocabulary. I read a story about a mother who had different DNA in her organs and in her blood, and was accused of not being the mother of her own children. The mother was once two embryos melting together into one fetus or something like that. She was in a way apparently half her own sibling. That's the only connection where I've ever heard that word, so I failed that one. And one more.
@ Chimeras made of two or more animals are also common beasts in lots of fantasy and sci fi settings, so I think the word is quite common in that space. That being said I’ve never heard it used to describe a utopia or anything. I even googled the definition.
English is my 192nd language and I got 21/20. It helps to be clever.
That's nothing. I have 3 degrees in Martian literature, and have studied Venusian for 20 years. I EASILY got lim x→∞ x/20.
@@PersonThatExi That’s cute. I’ve been studying the ancient plutonian hieroglyphs for 26 years, ever since I became fluent in Neptunian AND Uranian.
192rd*
That's So Impressive!
@@tjudawous I believe 192 ends with an “nd”
20 out of 20, retired primary school teacher here. I grew up extremely poor but would still give what ever I had to anyone else that I thought needed it. I spent my life teaching those less fortunate than I from around the world. My family have all died and I am 83. These videos are what give me hope in this world to keep smiling. I am also an organ donor and I donate all my extra cash to people who have less cash than me.
You’re lying. I watched you take this. 8/20
Me to! I tried to donate my brain but no one wanted it. I just don't understand. I'm a retired truck driver and it's hardly ben used!
We wanted teachers like you, you were important. No one taught me shit. I learned it myself. I got 17 out of 20, I love words. You were important, I wish you were my teacher, no one taught me words. Etymology and language is more important than math.
17/20 58 years old, and a lifetime reader. One of the best things about reading ebooks is that when I encounter an unfamiliar word, I can look it up immediately.
Me too! Although I’m still a paper girl, for me I find better focus, but everyone’s different. I love the way a new word can roll around in your mind.
Fellow reader here. 16 out of 20, and it should have been 17. Three of the words I'd never read or heard of. The remaining words in the list were of no help. Shrug.
Exactly this! I have neither the space nor money for all of the books my husband and I read. There’s also the issue with my physical problems that make reading a paper book genuinely unpleasant
@@canadiangirl1179 Canadian girl putting her body to good use yet?
@@Preedism Same. I consider myself reasonably well read but have never came across 3 of them
Getting 13 of 20, the last 7 were killers for me. Glad I took the test, it was fun. Thanks !
Yep, also 13 for me! Looks like I need to do a little bit of vocab learning still!
I crapped out at 14! This was a humbling experience 😂
yep, 12 or 13 for me too
16/20. I hope my English teacher mother isn’t disappointed.
Same here 13 out of 20
I got 18/20 easily. The last two were new words to me. Lifelong bookworm with a degree in English.
Same!!
same, 18/20, did English at uni but rarely read books these days, lacuna was vaguely familiar. I'm just glad I wasn't the kid on the stage trying to spell 'obloquy' lol
Got 19 correct. Was confident in every one of them. Just missed the word Obloquy.
How many did you guess though?
Same here
Russian native speaker here! Got 16/20. Here's my misses (SPOILERS!):
1) I choosed rigid instead of deft. I kinda got confused, because all words seemed to fit in. You don't know what efforts are needed in this context to make coin disappear, so I just guessed...
10) Expunge instead of flout. Just guessed, didn't knew A, B or C.
14) Acerbic instead of anathema. Just guessed.
17) Stolid instead of ersatz. Just guessed.
I think some words were easier because they are much more frequent in russian language environment, for example banal, sanguine, zenith and chimera.
Well, now I know more words, that's good!
Да ты никакой простачок 👍
I would have arrived at 'lacuna' by process of elimination - but got timed out by distraction because it sounds like 'lagoon' and a picture of beautiful water appeared in the mind's eye!
Well done, quite a few native English speakers wouldnt have scored that well
I score 99th percentile for reading, writing and verbal comprehension on SAT/ACT/GRE with a 96th percentile IQ (held back by 30th percentile processing speed cause I’m autistic)-and STILL missed the last four. WAY less than 1% of native English speakers know all of these.
Chocolate rain. Some stay dry and others feel the pain. Chocolate rain
How do you spell humble?
@@jenniferb5739 pie ;)
It is startling how much your video preferences match up with mine. I feel like I see you in a wide range of communities.
dc
I am 10 months old and got 1 out of 20. The only reason I said "lacuna" on the last question is that my attention was wandering and I was asking my dear mother to find my favorite stuffed animal, and my speech skills are not deft enough to properly identify the animal as a "vicuña". Still this result was enough to put me in the top 1% of my toilet training cohort.
Aaaaawwwww, I think you’re too modest, baby; give yourself some credit. Maybe you confused “vicuña” with “lacuna” because you had just woken up in “la cuna” where you’re put to nap every afternoon, bless your soul.
I got "lacuna" because it's an element of bone structure (background story there) and to my thinking it sounds similar to "lagoon", a gap in land filled with water.
For Scrabble players, geology is a great resource for obscure and peculiar words.
@@bunnyThor Ah what a magic reply, thank you for this 🤣🤣🤣
Who is he talking to..
10 months?
9:28 the correct answer to 19 is E. Boeing. It’s become a proprietary eponym
MY WIFE SAID THIS DURING THAT QUESTION HAHAHAHAHHA
That is brilliant.
That's what I said.
HA HA HA!!!! 😂😂
Correct!
12/20. Questions 16-20 were questions in which each available word was a new word to me. I also guessed a few questions correctly.
Me too :)
I got 17/20, with most of the missed words at the end, unsurprisingly.
A couple things:
1. While English does possess many loan-words ("ersatz", "gestalt", etc.), it often possesses intrinsically English words that act as synonyms or near-synonyms ("ersatz" = "artificial"/"imitation"). I don't personally believe knowing/not knowing those particular loan-words actually counts directly towards one's English vocabulary skills, but speaks more to one's greater comprehension of the language, as in its adoption of foreign words into itself. When a sufficient English word can be used in place of its foreign equivalent, it should be, as it is intrinsically English. Loan words which refer to concepts _not_ native to the English language are okay though, as there isn't an appropriate English substitute. "Gestalt" (a German word) for example would roughly mean, "something that is greater than the sum of its constituent parts, such that it cannot be reduced or its components extricated from the greater concept"; something that is intrinsically and fundamentally irreducible. Using "gestalt" to refer to such a concept is much more efficient and accurate than trying to describe what "gestalt" actually means.
2. Tangentially carrying on from point 1: English is a language full of redundancy and unnecessary verbosity, even within itself. Using oblique, obscure or unwieldy words not often used in most situations, especially when a sufficient synonym already exists within the language that is both more efficient and more well-known, without sacrificing accuracy ("lacuna" = "gap") should be avoided without exception. Brevity is to wit what precision is to comprehension. Just because you _can_ use such awkward terms correctly doesn't mean you _should_ - and, in fact, you _shouldn't._ They are unnecessary and often require structuring your dialogue awkwardly to shoehorn them into your speech. Knowing how to trim down one's vocabulary to discard obsolete/archaic terms in place of their identical, more elegant synonyms - and applying them appropriately - is just as important as expanding one's vocabulary to include new words to define ideas one otherwise has trouble articulating.
True mastery of a language is not about imbibing a dictionary and then regurgitating its contents to "sound smart"; it's about knowing how to wield it, like a tool to be used for its specific purpose. A hammer can pound many things, but its _intended_ use is to pound nails; you shouldn't be using a screwdriver for nails, nor a hammer for screws - and you shouldn't be looking for a torque wrench in either case! Knowing when and where to use your linguistic tools is among the most advanced aspects of mastering a language. Grab a hammer for the nails and a screwdriver for the screws, but leave the torque wrench at home; you don't need it.
Is English your second language? Because if so these paragraphs here are incredibly impressive. I hope I can one day be as expressive in the languages that I'm learning.
Wow, terrific insights and thank you for your take on this!
@@gappleofdiscord9752 I'm a native English-speaker. I should have broken up my points a bit more, I know. I was typing quickly though and just wanted to get the points down while keeping them constrained to the numbered headings.
I suppose I undercut myself with the atrocious formatting.
@@Armameteus I was complimenting your comment, I thought you expressed yourself really clearly. Regardless of first language that comment is an example of how you properly articulate what you're trying to say.
@@gappleofdiscord9752 Ah. Sorry, I guess I'm used to comments online that only compliment sarcastically. Like, I presumed you were making a joke out of my paragraph structure as a way to ridicule my perspective on English comprehension.
Perhaps I'm spending too much time on the internet. It's making me jaded and misanthropic. 😵
frenchman here, a lot of these are related to or the same in french, it helps :)
I totally agree... yet there are false friends too. I missed the special meaning of "sanguine", which is quite different from the same French adjective.
There was a couple German curve balls in there too lol
Latin origins FTW!
@@goncalovazpinto6261I took 4 years in high school, but missed one!
of course they the frogs were part of Britain for 400 yrs !
15/20. This was humbling.
Same. I can say I had three of the ones I missed down to a 50/50.
Haha same
Same
Ditto
I managed 17, the last three were a little out there for me…(and I think I got 17 through process of elimination)
Pro-writer / author here. 20/20 and nothing less than expected. Vocabulary has always been one of my strongest suits.
The last two were very much words that one would rarely see used in a lifetime. The others were pretty straightforward.
I didn't feel the last two embodied a jump in difficulty, B. There was nothing here that I'd be surprised to encounter in a long discursive article in a first-rate US or UK newspaper, The Economist, The New Yorker, The Atlantic...etc.
That's just me, though. All best.
I think I came across "lacuna" in a wiki article about some ancient greek text. Is it a term of art in palaeography?
I didn't have any trouble with the 20 words, but I did have to look up "cathexis." I agree with Peter Gay (see cathexis in Wikipedia) that it's "unnecessarily esoteric." I also learned some pronunciations. Did you know the earliest pronunciation of "banal," as preserved in old dictionaries, rhymed with "flannel?"
@@BarerMender UK here - yep, it's French. Over here, saying 'baynal' would mark the sayer down as trying to use a word that they hadn't got a full grasp of. And I suspect it'd be the same in (say) the offices of the New Yorker or the NYT, or in the best departments of the best US universities.
All best!
Barbara Kingsolver’s novel Lacuna is a good read.
15/20, avid reader and learned many languages in life, but like others noted my vocabulary already confuses most people, I suspect if you know more than 10 of these words you are frequently misunderstood
I got all 20, and I’m not frequently misunderstood, because I wouldn’t use most of these words in conversation.
I once confused every person save one in a room of 20 plus people by using the word "circuitous" 😂
@@lizajane2971ack, maybe you need some more friends of your caliber. 😅
Yep, I apparently have developed an unconscious habit of translating myself, probably from a lifetime of getting blank looks.
@@lizajane2971 Everybody on this comment section should form a social network. Might then have a slight chance of being understood!
I'm an English professor at Oxford and managed to get 1/20, pretty proud of myself.
I was a receptionist and I got 18 of 20.
I'm Noah Webster but I got 0/20 because I'm dead.
You’re joking, right…?
Agreed! Sometimes oversimplification genders incomprehensibility.
@@JMA864no, I think he's dead serious 😂
20/20! I'm an 81-year-old retired medical librarian. I tried to anticipate what the word would be and got many of them correct. For the tricky obloquy, I guessed "opprobrium" which is equally obscure.
I guessed disapprobation!
I got flout right before seeing the choices. Good job, Kathy.
I chose opprobrium as well. Glad to know I wasn’t alone.
The only one I didn't get was obloquy - the only word in the whole test I'd never come across
That's a really excellent list of words.
When should note however that the quiz statement in number 11 is itself incorrect.
Disinterest means lack of bias. The question should have used the word uninterest.
I scrolled through most of the comments and what stands out is how well written everyone's posts are. I wish all of YT was like this!
@@dhalikias That’s a great observation.
What it is mayng? Gnomesayin'? 😎
Hardly surprising really. Only those of us with an encyclopedic vocabulary are likely to click on a video with that title. Nobody wants to feel inadequate or stupid.
Me not tock gud?
Me got 19, guessed 10 exact word thingies before options be written.
I got 10, which honestly was better than I expected! That second half was no joke though!!
Aye. Caught me on a few as well.
Got all correct in one go. For context, I grew up in Los Angeles, California in the 1990s and attended Torrance High School in Southern California. Also, I've always loved to read. I think that helped.
In my zealous pursuit of English, I find myself flummoxed and utterly nonplussed. This verbiage labyrinth bewilders my cerebrations! Of twenty attempted words, I contrived a paltry two correct-an outcome most ignominious, and yet, I persist in my lexical odyssey.
Did AI write that for you?
OK Shakespeare
Nonplussed? Definitely AI
for me ur English was extraordinary!
Got me 20 init
I'm almost 84. 19/20. I've always appreciated fat, juicy or foreign words for salting up a conversation (or sometimes just for fun or showing off) .
I used the word “soupçon” yesterday and my GF was like “what?”
@@rhythmdroid Formidable!
I spent most of class reading the dictionary to find insults my bullies wouldn't understand.
Like calling one corpulent and rotund.
Then when I got to highschool I realized I was trying too hard as there were still kids that were struggling to read at all.
That made me sad, and still does.
I guessed most of them the same way I passed neuropsychology's multiple choice questions: I didn't actually know which one was the correct answer, but I did know for sure which ones weren't, by logic. I told my neuropsychology teacher that, and he answered that that speaks very well of my executive cognitive functions, but very bad of my neuropsychology knowledge. I passed my English tests at the high school level with the best grades the same way. I'm not really sure to what extent multiple choice exams can actually tell how much you really know, or how much you can make logical inferences.
Still smart, dude. I got 19 out of 20 and lost the last because I didn't give myself time to use logic as I kept skipping forward cuz it was too easy. 😂
Same here
Same. Tested out of college language requirement this way!
Look at it this way: if you don't know the right word but you know which 3 words are wrong, you know a lot of words.
Getting all of them right was a chimera for me!
15 out of 20, not a native speaker but a proficiency test student, the last words were HARD AF
Same here, hard test for non- native speaker, but a solid grammar school education with latin, english, french and greek did help a lot. Thanks for your attention.
"Hard AF" ... very eloquent. LMAO!🤣🤣🤣🤣
Same here... but simply because I guessed many correctly, often by eliminating the other choices, sometimes by pure luck.
It helps that some of the answers are also French words. 😅
You did better than me and I am a native speaker.
No word is hard, it may just be unfamiliar.
I am 120 and got 47 correct.
😂😊
Are you a psychologist and astronaut too?
You did well, young padowon!
You must be Donald Trump.
Well, your language skill might be top notch, but it seems like you need to go back to math class. 😂
16/20, being not a native speaker who doesn’t live in a foreign country or work with the language. I’m happy with my result
As you should be! That's very impressive!
Maybe so, yet your sentence is somewhat shady!
Well done!!
@@ragnarkisten grammar isn't the same thing as vocabulary. like many others pointed out, a lot of these words are directly borrowed from latin. maybe OP speaks a romance language as a mother tongue.
I got 15 out of 20, and I'm an English teacher! This goes to show just how difficult English can be.
Thanks for making me feel better, I got 5 wrong also:(((
quit.
@@j.g.c.2494 That's not a wise thing to say. Nor kind.
@@j.g.c.2494 Good start! Next try learning a 5-letter word.
@@franceslarsen4037 No problem! Most people would struggle with this test, but I think this audience is skewed towards people who have studied this stuff a lot. In reality you probably will only ever need at most 5 of these anyway. 15 is a great score.
Good quiz. But on #17, there was an error. Just before the blank was the word "a." However, the correct answer began with a vowel sound, which means that the "a" should have been an "an." Then I noticed when you filled the blank in with the correct answer, the "a" suddenly became an "an." That was a tricky move, but technically misleading. Sorry for noticing that. But the quiz was interesting nevertheless.
I agree, but I have noticed that many newsreaders now say 'a' in front of a vowel, which sounds somewhat babyish. I pointed this out to my daughter, who said she had never been taught that 'an' precedes a vowel, although I am sure I corrected her many times as a child.
I would quibble with 'zee nith'. I have only heard it pronounced 'zen ith'.
@@willowtree9291 Only in the idiocracy called America.
In the US, ZEE-nith is the standard pronunciation. We had a brand of electronics by that name, and like many Americanisms, we sometimes read words without standard British pronunciations. But I’ve heard zen-ith in many commonwealth countries. I agree it’s misleading to change a spelling before a word.
good spotting on your part!
If you know the meaning of the words, the preceding "a" vs "an" shouldn't throw you off, especially when it's multiple choice.
Your quizzes are an absolute delight-mixing lacuna and penumbra with iconoclastic questions, all while encouraging us to turn stolid confusion into diaphanous understanding; this channel deserves an encomium for turning obloquy into intellectual cathexis!
You looked at the autism spectrum and said "yes".
yeah umm.... what that guy said!
I balk at your slanderous use of "diaphanous"! You must promptly recant!
16, 17, 19, and 20 got me good. The rest of the words were pretty easy despite rarely ever using them myself.
Always LOVED to do the Readers Digest Word Power Vocabulary quizzes! They gave context in a sentence and I always learned something new 😊
I always did word power. I was so good ! Then after 50 I noticed I wasn't good at all! 😢😢😢
My Grandmother always had me study the word power lists when I stayed with her!
We love your nature that makes you a teacher, a comedian, and an actor. You are truly talented, Brian, and you excel in all roles. You truly deserve appreciation. My best wishes, ESRAA
Thank you so much, Esraa!
learn gematria
@@BrianWilesQuizzeslearn gematria
20/20 Being Spanish and having studied Latin, French and German helped a lot. IMHO this is also a bit of a test of general knowledge, not just knowledge of English vocabulary. Banal, coalesce, ob loquii, hiatus, Mr Luigi Galvani of the electric pile, Ersatz, chimera, lacuna etc. Difficult words for English native speakers tend to stem from foreign languages, chiefly Latin, French, Spanish, German, even Yiddish so they are easy for those who know such languages. Conversely, "pure" (if such a thing exists at all :) English words are hard for us non-English speakers. I remember being throughly baffled by "newt" when I started learning English. Thanks and keep up the good work!
This is a very well thought out response, thank you for sharing your thoughts. English (like many languages) borrows a variety of words from others, and that can make it trickier, especially when the words are so obscure. Lacuna, for example, seems to stem from a Latin word literally meaning "Lake" - Sanguine, also Latin, means "blood". Having some casual Latin experience, I recognized some of those with their original meanings, but I'd never heard the... *erudite* way that they've been used in English. I got 16/20 correct I think. Some of the words I had just straight up never even heard of (and I fancy myself a vocab nerd). Language experience: Native English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, and recently Japanese. One thing that struck me about the way some of these words are used (like lacuna) is in a less-than-literal way, instead borrowing the concept or essence of the word's original meaning to create a new meaning. Japanese Kanji shares a bit of a similarity - sort of, go with me on this - the radicals represent concepts, but when combined they form new concepts or words, even if those separate radicals wouldn't *literally* mean that new thing together. It's part of what makes translating Japanese into English particularly challenging, and also very exciting, and it's why you can end up with some varied translations of the same thing, which I love, because they all serve to give broader context for whatever is being translated.
Thank you so much for your excellent comment! I completely agree with you, especially regarding the fascinating evolution of a word’s meaning after being adopted by different languages. I remember being very intrigued to learn that 'bizarre' likely originates from the Basque word for 'beard,' was adapted in Spanish to mean 'bold' or 'daring,' and then found its way into English with the meaning we know today-'eccentric.' (Why? I have no idea! 😊)
Your observations on kanji are also spot-on. My wife is Japanese, so I have some firsthand experience with the language. Your insights into the parallel between non-literal uses of borrowed words in Western languages and the Japanese onyomi/kunyomi readings are particularly original and thought-provoking. Thank you for sharing, and congratulations on such an insightful perspective!
By the way, this thread seems to be evolving beyond a typical UA-cam comments section. 😄
I learned the word ersatz from reading Leon Uris, "Mila 18."
When the man is right... La sagesse vient avec l'expérience/le temps.
I agree. I speak 5 languages and found the test easy.
Demurred - Balked
Missed - Facsimile
Missed
Obloquy
Lacuna - ommission
18/20
17 correct. Am 70 years old, started reading Reader's Digest Pays to Improve Your Word power in 1973. Good test.
So Readers Digest got us through 17. That’s pretty good. I also practiced typing while reading. Came in handy when seeking jobs. 😀
Managed to get 19. The question with chimera as the answer threw me. I'm a retired health care professional, so all I could think was a chimera is a person whose body is composed of cells that are genetically distinct as though they are from two different individuals. Tunnel vision, anyone?
That is why I missed that one also.
me too
Got 18 but that one also had me stumble. Personally I thought of the mythical beast created by a mix of many different body parts of various animals. I can somehow see how that particular definition could have come into being but it still threw me for a loop and I'm reasonably convinced that most people who read that word don't actually think of that particuar definition.
This one got me as well for the same reason. But also sanguine - had never heard that word used outside the context of blood
Yeah I knew the first (and primary) definition of chimera, which is just a creature made of a mish-mash of other creatures. Had no idea about the more obscure second meaning. Because I thought I knew that word, I discarded it as a candidate option for that question... nasty, nasty.
Nailed it. "Obloquy," however, I got only because the others didn't fit.
In thanks, I hereby pass on to you an exercise passed on to me by the late poet & professor John Morris, my own professor when I first started teaching writing. After being asked to read Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" for homework, students come to class next day and are given copies of the first paragraph but with several words replaced by blanks, and asked to supply words words that make sense. Students who read the essay can do this. The fun begins when they've finished, compare their choices to Orwell's, and discuss the differences.
I think the answers to the later questions were more loan words from another language than English. So for a non English speaker it didn't really become more difficult later on, just more Latin like (except gestalt which comes from German haha love that language too)
I had 20/20 and I'm definitely not an exceptional English speaker. I read a lot of English, and I hear a lot of English, but speaking is more difficult for me. I resort to the simplest words while speaking.
But it was a nice and quite entertaining quiz and its always good to refresh your language skills so thanks for making this vid 😃
That’s my advice for English learners. I teach English in Japan, and I try to encourage my students not to push themselves too hard. It is best to get comfortable with the simple vocabulary words and expressions before trying out more difficult ones. Though, using the difficult ones are by no means a necessity. I’d rather my students use what makes them feel comfortable and confident. I understand this to an extent. I am trying to learn Japanese since I’m living here, but I plan to begin learning Cantonese because my fiancé is from Hong Kong and would like our future child to know Cantonese to a certain extent. I want to help out with that, but it will be hard. So, I’ll take it easy on myself. Is German your native language?
So glad I found your channel. I only got 12 correct. Fabulous to refresh and improve my English. Awesome.
Thanks so much, Lisa- and welcome!
I applaud you for being willing to say that in a comments section where everyone is bragging about how they got 20/20 and 19/20, etc.
@@jakes3799 Probably one of the only ones actually being truthful tbh lmao. I got 15, maybe should have gotten a few more but some of those words I have never even seen before. I would have gotten 1-2 more probably if I had longer than a few seconds to think about them.
@@jakes3799 Applaud? She said 12, not four.
@@CodPatrol When you're in an environment where everyone is bragging about how high their score is, it is intimidating. It's hard to say that you got something that is a little more average. You don't have to totally bomb to be intimidated.
I got 15/20!!! It was difficult, no doubt!!🙏🌹
20/20. I'm 82 and English is my fourth language, but all the words with a Latin origin (i.e. lacuna) were easy for me, which usually is not the case for English native speakers.
@@caeruleusvm7621
I agree with that. Also, the words that are 'difficult' for many English-speaking people tend to be trivial for Italian, French and Spanish speakers. I wish I had learned Greek also, but life is short ...
A lot came directly from the french, the one I missed "sanguine" it's because its meaning is very different in french, obloquy and other anglosaxon word I succeed by elimination of the french or latin options
@@neznamho Too bad learning Greek doesn’t grow legs and help you get out of that hospital bed 😭 He’s a swift swimmer!
19 out of 20. Naturally smart and a voracious reader. Never graduated HS.
I got 16. Non-native speaker here, but my latin-based language helped in a few of the last ones. Thank you for teaching me a couple of new ones!
Idem, french here, the more difficult it was the easiest for me 19/20, sanguine has different meaning in french
The last few showing the range of source languages for English - chimera (Greek), lacuna (Latin for hole or gap), ersatz (German for replacement), sanguine (Old French, based on Latin, meaning blood red) and obloquy (derived from Latin). But not too many Anglo-Saxon words are in the super-difficult category.
'blatant' (one of the words used here) may not strictly speaking be Anglo-Saxon, but it is English. It was popularized (and may have been invented by) Edmund Spenser for his Dungeons and Dragons poem The Faerie Queene.
easy for me because I could eliminate the french origin words which I knew the meaning so I got obloquy and I would forget it immediatly
easy quizz for a french people
I'm an Italian native speaker. Got 16 / 20. All in all, I'm pretty happy with myself.
Hasta Luego Mexico man
16 correct+1 by educated guess... 45yo, Portuguese, Computer geek with barely any language skills... Maybe being a latin laguage speaker helps because many of the answers are similar to words we use.
19/20. In my entire 37 years of life, I have never come across the word Ersatz. But, I have to thank the book "Word Power Made Easy" by Norman Lewis for developing my vocabulary which I read back in my mid teens, my voracious reading habit throughout my life and Harry Potter book series for rousing the said habit.
I did poorly in the final few questions but ironically knew ersatz only because of the “Captain Ersatz” trope on TV Tropes
Ersatz is German for surrogate
20/20. My parents never answered my questions. I had to think out the answers and then look them up. It taught me to want to know everything. And as a result I’m a double PhD psychologist and research methodologist. I’m 75 and still asking questions every day.
@evanshaw17 🫛
21/20. I didn't have parents. I emerged from a cave about 45,000 years ago and had to fashion my own clothes. After my 12th PhD, I got tired of asking questions. Now I just peruse the world wide web to display my plethoric acumen and perspicacity.
@evanshaw17 It's amazing what you've accomplished! I believe that, no matter how studious a person is, there is always something new to learn. I don't consider myself a very well learned individual but I've widened my mind when I travel and meet people from different regions, countries, walks of life, fields of study, ethnicities and social statuses. I feel like I know very little in comparison to others but I'm always curious and willing to learn more.
I got 20 out of 20 and slept through High School. But sure, I’ld rank passing a Parochial School level vocabulary test on the same level as two Humanities PHDs.
@@Pfromm007 Wow, that's really impressive, you're definitely naturally smart and overall superior. Living that long takes discipline, I bet you eat your veggies, tons of fish and wild game regularly, plus you probably exercise and meditate a lot. And overall your life choices were much more advanced and sophisticated, you probably never got married, stayed debt free, learned the specific skills to ensure a superior financial stability, outstanding fitness level and an incredible social and psychological IQ. Wise man! If I could be like that...
I feel like knowing all of these confidently would put you in the top 0.01%, not 1%
Most of these weren't difficult at all. I studied Maths and knew almost all of them. Fun video though.
@@byronwilliams7977 I left school at 16 and knew all of them, I studied Latin, perhaps that helped!
@@byronwilliams7977 *Weren't difficult for you, but are most likely very difficult for almost all of the general population
Don't be silly. 19 was very difficult. 0.1% at best know all these words. I only guessed 20 because lacuna is similar to laguna and thought it might suggest a space.
@@Patrick-oj8rm I knew lacuna as a medical term for a gap and that was my saving grace for the question
It always helps to speak French with tests about rare English words as many are directly derived from it.
Got 16 and surprised myself a bit. Looks like reading alot does pay off. 😊
I'd like to argue that for #6 - flippant still arguably makes logical sense.
Yes. In fact I got that wrong 😂(and n 16)
To describe someone as 'flippant' is to criticize them for not taking something seriously. To describe someone as 'fickle 'is to say they are likely to change their opinion about something suddenly. If you love jazz one week and hate it next, you are being 'fickle'. If you take jazz lessons and are not making progress, it may be because of your 'flippant' attitude. Subtle difference between the two.
@krisrap3828 has it right, flippant means to not take seriously. The context here is clearly about change not about how earnestly they care about music.
Van someone explain why #16 "abrogated" can not be another correct option please??
@AntonAdelson I had to check the meaning and usage of abrogate. 😅
1. Repeal / do away with.
2. Evade (a responsibility or duty)
The solicitor is still negotiating the agreement. It would need to be in force to be repealed, or evaded. You would also not say "abrogated TO the agreement".
I was looking for a synonym for "objected (to)". Which is why it's demurred (to).
Frankly, I've never heard "demur" used with "to" either. I've only seen it used outside of legal language before and generally as "she listened to his criticism without demur." She didn't object to his criticisms (potentially she agreed with them).
I got them all except 16, 18, and 19. The most common definition of 18's word is a mythical beast that's a combination of animals, and I didn't know the word could be used in that other manner. I've heard 16's word in a meme, but I didn't know its correct definition. 19's word was the only new word to me.
I could answer some of these before even seeing the choices. I even answered #20 before you gave us the choices. Yuval Harari uses #20's word to describe missing parts of human knowledge that we explore later.
I have practiced english vocabulary sporadically for a long time. I don't pretend to know every word. I try to understand words from context or by their parts, and if I'm still curious about their definition or etymology, then I google them. I'm not an English language expert. I'm probably in the top 5%, but I don't think I'm in the top 1%.
One more thing, I doubt that this test gives us the top 1%. I think this test is significantly more difficult than "top 1%" testing. I think we will have difficulty finding even 1 person out of 1,000 that correctly answers this test. Among vocabulary studiers, maybe it's top 1%. Among the normal population? I'm betting less than 1 out of 1,000 native English speakers can answer all twenty of these.
I got Chimera right, but only because I've vaguely heard it used in the context given in this example, otherwise like you I was thinking of a multi creature demon. I lost out on 16 and 19. I have heard the correct word for 16 at least, but 19, never heard or even seen that word written down in my lifetime.
Helps if you had Latin or French at school, and know German.
I also got chimera and obloquy wrong, but I‘m not a native English speaker and I knew what a chimera is in molecular genetics, and mythology, so….
I'm not so sure about only 1/1000 people. If I had ever heard or seen *once* in my life the word "obloquy", I would have gotten 20/20, and I don't consider myself some brilliant master of English. I do have a college degree, and I read quite a bit, so there's that(?) There are probably more 19/20 scores out there than you think.
@@Matthewtron3030 1/100 not 1/1000 I think you mean.
I got them all, except the ones I didn't hahahahaha oh and 373 million English speakers as a first language in the world and 1% is 3.73 million. An IQ of 130 or higher is considered "gifted" and represents 2% of the population, which in the USA 2%×333 million = or 6.66 million people.
6:04 ”Indifference” instead of ”disinterest”. ”Disinterest” means impartiality or lack of bias.
Yep.
I've noticed that Americans often use 'disinterested' when the word should be 'uninterested'.
@@arthurmee It's a word that comes to mind, and they think it's the right one.
I came here to say the same.
Sadly, the two words which once were quite different have merged their meanings. I guess judges are now required to be 'impartial' rather than disinterested.
My answer/ first word thought
Deft - superflous
Candor - deneanor
Dawdle - procrastinate
Blatant
Concede
Fickle
Glavanize
Austere - institutional
Flout - subvert
Zenith - apex
Hiatus - Sabbatical
Banal - dry
Coalesce - merge
Anathema - Antithetical
Sanguine
I have a Masters degree in English and taught college writing for 25 years.
I doubt many native English speakers will get 100%. You get very obscure towards the end. To score in the upper teens, you'll need a superior background in morphology, plus extensive experience with Victorian and Edwardian non-fiction texts, especially legal documents, to get a feel of precise usage.
Yes, I believe many liars are here on this thread. I'm a native speaker. I'm college educated, and I consider my vocabulary far above average in USA. I'm often correcting others on vocabulary, syntax, and pronunciation. (Sadly I'm not good at writing anymore)
In all honesty, I got 14 correct. 1 or 2 by guessing.
I did.
I dispute that. I got 19/20, without that experience, but I was tested at a college reading level in 7th grade (US schools).
@@MC-ep8cu Then you're probably not "far above average" for someone who was college educated, sorry. Only the last two were genuinely obscure.
15/20
It seemed at first anyone who reads can get all of them, but then it turned to words no one uses
Yay! I got all 20 right, but I had to guess the word, "obloquy". I'm a 67 year old retired accountant from Canada. I was able to anticipated about half the words in advance.
Same here. 20/20 but guessed obloquy.
I got a good score but i don't know if i deserve it. Most of my answers were because i eliminated the other options, not because I specifically know the correct word.
If you’re able to eliminate words, that’s also an indication of a strong English vocabulary (since many of the incorrect answers are also high-level words).
@@BrianWilesQuizzes Note my comment that I would have used 'anathemic' (which is the word I anticipated), given the sentence structure. (Got 20/20, btw, was a bored kid who read a lot.)
There were several correct words possible to use in several of the sentences.
Process of elimination saved me a couple times for sure
True.That's the general fault of multiple-choice questions which, given any subject, can be scored pretty high by monkeys well-versed in test tactics. A theoretical monkey that only knows how to circle a random answer will, in the long run, score 1/n (n being the number of choices) and given enough attempts, will eventually pass the strictest tests.
19/20. Avid book worm and former 6th grade spelling bee champion. I’m 70 now. I should’ve known lacuna. Second generation immigrant.
I was looking for a good teacher to improve my english level…Then I found you.❤️
I’m very glad to hear that, Esther- welcome!
Now who is going to understand what you are saying?
20/20. English is my native language, and I'm a nerdy Scrabble-a-holic! Very impressive questions. I kept trying to anticipate what the word would be, and not always getting there before it came up, especially at the end! I have HEARD of obloquy, but it's not a word that comes easily to mind. But I insist on candoUr!
Me too!
Also got 20/20 and kept trying to guess the word and I think it got harder as the list moved to obscure words that don't necessarily help with general communication. Also candour and less 'z' in words :)
20/20 Native speaker, 81 years old. Latin, Greek both helped, though I was pretty certain in all cases.
20 out of 20. Got harder toward the end, but wasn’t that hard because the two other choices were obviously wrong😂(helps if you also know the meaning of the “wrong” words)
it's American spelling... they're lazy spellers !
Retired Physics teacher here. I got 19/20 but guessed the last two. The last two were totally new to me, and I am 70! Thanks for the fun.
Lacuna is a twin to lagoon, it means a gap. Obloquy carries the suggestion of unfair criticism.
@@malvoliosf No I think "lagoon" comes from the Italian/Venetian meaning "big lake." "Lago" is "lake" in Italian and laguna is augmentative form of "lago" meaning "big lake." We talk about the Venetian lagoon. "Obloquy" is to do with forgetting - in a French castle an oubliette was a dungeon where you were doomed to be imprisoned for a life time and forgotten.
@@kaloarepo288 Wiktionary says that lagoon comes from lacuna and obloquy from obloquor, to speak against.
@@malvoliosf But "lacus" for lake -"lago" in Italian came first and the lacuna thing is a secondary meaning. The venetian lagoon - means big lake -same way that pontoon means a big bridge - in Italian the 'one" at end of words is an augmentative meaning "big" Lots of other examples borrowed into English but then spelled oon.
20/20. Lacuna is more of a literary word, which as a professional writer I was already familiar with. The 19th question was purely a guess, because the other three options just didn't seem right.
I must say I love and greatly appreciate these videos. Social media has done real damage to the intelligence of people today.
14/20 at the age of 41. The ones I missed were based on words I was never exposed to until now. I'll take this score gladly.
27 year old with a 4 year degree, but I only got 10/20.
24 and I got 18/20. I chalk it up to me being homeschooled my whole life.
Stop lieing
@@CiaranArmstrong-r9r Why would I lie to a person who can't even comprehend that the -ing modifier added to lie would be "lying"? Try "reading".
@@devaughnsalter6264 lier!
Got nineteen, and your test was fun. Challenging and satisfying. Thank you!
As a non-english speaker, I'm glad I got 16 of these correct.
20/20, often filling the blank before the options were presented. No wonder people don't like me. Well, they do until I speak.
was this made to stroke my ego because I'm a non-native english speaker and got 18/20
No it was made to get views, which play on egos.
I’m assuming you speak a Latin language, because the last 4-5 words are Latin loan words that most native English speakers will go their entire lives without hearing.
9:01 Interesting. I've never heard chimera used that way. I've only ever heard it used to mean a monstrous amalgamation of things thrown together like the Greek monstrosity of the same name.
Sounds classier than ' pie in the sky' utopia, though 😂
I'm convinced this one was thrown in for the try-hards...any of these answers could work depending how you view society
All 20 correct without difficulty. The product of a good education all those years ago. I am now 75.
Same here,
I'm 18 and after the first few I started to not know words and gave up around question number 10. Despite finishing my high school education, I've still got lots to learn I guess.
Same here. I'm 72.
@@SawyerCarlson-h6f Knowing you still have lots to learn is the best thing you could learn. I still feel that way and I graduated HS in 1969. The best way to increase your vocabulary is to read, a lot, anything, everything, whatever, just learn to love reading and your world will never stop expanding.😸
@@crowleythedemoncat Yes, learning to love reading and learning in general is vital to my success. The problem is there are so many distractions so it can feel difficult to be productive. Maybe I just need to slowly increment my productivity time until I spend most of my time in a fun and productive way.
17 correct and 2 correct guesses. Happy with that. Reading is a huge part of my life.
17/20. I am 17 Year old. English is my Second language
20. English is my second language, but I have studied hard all my life. I am now 64 years old, and speak five languages.
I got 18
The ones I got I knew no question!
The 2 that I missed- I had no idea
last one and one other at the end I didn’t know
Not bad for a 70 year-old ( in 2 weeks) who can tell that my brain fog is coming on from my auto immune diseases 😢
I used to be the biggest wordsmith that any of my friends knew
Maybe I kind of still am -lol
🤷♀️
Great fun
Obloquy got me as well. 19 correct. Being fluent in French made #20 obvious.
My French extensive, 55 years, but lacuna is Latin, direct.
@@JamesSimmons-d1t Peut-être auriez-vous des lacunes en français ?
It helps! 😊 A good number of those are rare in English but standard in french, like candour, concede, austere, banal, or indeed lacuna
@@JamesSimmons-d1t It's almost as if French derives much of its lexicon from Latin. Perhaps, even, one might say that the Latin influences in English came, in large measure, through French itself. At least, that's what my friend Billy from Falaise said.
i am glad i found some one who is really the best in his field
That’s very kind of you, Mustafa- thank you 🙏
6:25 - metastasize _would_ be an interesting way to describe an artist's vision
agreed
Hahahahahhaha “congeal” was the first alternate that came to mind while chuckling to myself just before realizing it would be “coalesce”.
Could happen! 😋
I got 16 out of 20. I am from Norway. English is only my second language... Wow! 😎👍
18/20
The ones that I missed: ersatz and obloquy. I’m not a native speaker. English is my second language.
Wow very impressive!
ersatz is a German word 🤣
@@pelicanus4154 ... and with the emphasis on the second syllable (nót the first) !! 😉
English is your 2nd language and yet you knew what lacuna meant?
@@MrKeefy1967 Maybe he was like De Montaine and his first language was Latin.
1:45 my first thought was procrastinate and then I saw dawdle and got a lil disappointed 😂
Same 😅
Same here.
My first thought was “I’m feeling called out because I’m watching this video when exams are tomorrow. 😬” I went straight back to work.
Same
@@Altered999 butnot beforebieng sure to check the comments section ofc :')
I have no degree, only a GED but a lifetime of crosswords and love of the English language. I feel self-satisfied to have answered 18 correct, missing ersatz and obloquy. I have seen ersatz before, but obloquy is a new word for me, I have never seen it before.
It's funny how the word ersatz was one of the two easiest ones to me (besides banal) as it is a german loan word which is very commonly used in that language (my native language). It is interesting how that word is an adjective with a precise in english whereas it is a noun with the broad meaning of "replacement" in german