Finding the right word. Why is it so hard?

Almost every day during a conversation I will just freeze in my tracks trying to remember a word. Most of the time it's a very mundane, everyday kind of word, but I just can't pull it out. This gets tiresome during interviews.

It seems I have an internal thesaurus, instead of a vocabulary, because I think of many other words that are almost, but not quite, the word I am looking for. It's almost as if I have too many options in my brain. I end up going to a thesaurus and looking up the list of words I've come up with until I get the right one. Most of the time, as I said the word is something used daily, no exotic words. I have an easy time with exotic words.

I am getting older, but I've been this way most of my life. It might be that I have some stress conversing, since I am an introvert. It could be that I don't have enough practice using words, too.

Anybody have this problem regularly, or know methods to get around all this stumbling with words?

 

This happens to me every so often. I just briefly lost the word "compatibility" from my vocabulary, although it seems to have made its way back (not in time for the email I needed to send, though).

I read a lot. Maybe I'm not reading the right kind of books.

 

Try down-sizing your vocabulary. I know, this sounds counter-intuitive. But consider this - are there words you shouldn't use often, if at all. Extremes, like never, always, horrible, delightful. Things seldom are extreme. The next time you pluck a word, ask yourself - is my bias showing? Have I really thought this through? "Really" probable belongs on that list, now that I think about it.

 

Edit on, Baraka, edit on.

 

I really agree with that, very, very, very, very much.

As for blanking out on the word you want: I have the same issues, although I think it's because a lot of the time, my mouth moves faster than my brain.

 

I hear you. I try to read as much as possible, and trying to keep the variety up. Finally reading Bleak House lately.

I have no problem understanding meaning in what I read. I guess what's needed for me, is to practice using the words. Writing is easier, as you can stop and look up the right word. Conversation is another story altogether.

Would reading aloud do me any good, do you think? I seem to recall talking was easier when I was reading my daughter books nightly. Anecdotal at best, I know.

 

I believe you meant to post "Finding the right word. Why is it so difficult?"

Maybe not.

 

^^^ I see what you did there. </touche>

I like the intelligence and the humor here. One day I might add to one or both of those.

 

Reading out loud is, what I've done a lot when learning foreign languages. Yet I would need more interactive conversations. Now I only type in English, it's too easy to check words from online dictionaries.

My daughter was learning to read. I told her once, she does not have to read everything aloud, she can also read to herself. "But then I won't know, what it says", she claimed. This phase didn't last long though.

 

Whenever I think
I know the right word for things
someone corrects me.

 

Just thought I'd bump an old thread for the hell of it. Also because I wanted to post this:


(Not gonna lie, part of the joke belongs to someone else. If I knew exactly who, I'd credit them.)

 

I've been reading more and more novels and non-fiction on my e-reader. With the built in dictionary and thesaurus I've found this medium to be a great vocabulary builder. I can also save a passage that contains a new or hard to remember word so I can go back to it to reinforce the meaning in my memory. The only problem is that some of my friends are getting sick of me trotting out new words all the time.

 

I totally get it @Cayvmann. I often feel slow, stupid and inarticulate in face-to-face. Not only is there the painful groping for "that" word. It is coupled with my own rather naive and refreshingly rustic use of grammar and pronunciation. The beauty of teh webz is that going typey-type with programs for word search and spell check running can often pitchfork my usual gruntspeak into the realm of clarity. Plus I don't need to type "um", "uh" and "you know, thingy". The key is to refrain from hitting the post button until your brain, eyes and edits all concur.

Re @Baraka_Guru 's edit peeve. Posting is teaching me to leave out "just". I do it instead of I just do it. So to speak.