Dear Humans,

Knowing words and their synonyms is a good thing. It is admirable and agreeable and meritorious and ducky and copacetic. But synonyms are tricky things. Because they obviously don’t mean exactly what other words mean. If they did they wouldn’t be necessary. 

So figuring out just the right word is a whole lot harder than memorizing lists of synonyms. Because words don’t have definitions, words have uses. And the way to learn how to use words is to listen and watch how other humans have used words. It’s to read. And then read some more. And then reread the books you read a long time ago.

The more you read the more you’ll learn, about the world and about the language that makes that world move.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt