The “Intrinsic” story… Me and Coach Tress
I knew a guy once who read the dictionary every day and learned at least 2 new words. That seems nice, until you use them in a sentence. It can bite you!
At an Ohio State news conference a few weeks back and I used the word “Intrinsic” in a question to Coach Tressel. He made fun of me then—and has for weeks since… and I don’t blame him.
Truth be told, Coach loves his English—in particular, words of a certain girth. For example, just today he used the word “Contiguous” in a news conference answer.
My buddy from the newspaper used the word “Admonish” in a question last week—Tress acted like he didn’t know what it meant, which of course, he clearly did.
The lesson I’ve learned from all this is when you’re asking a question, seal it with a KISS (Keep it simple, stupid). Leave big, unfamiliar words for professors and attorneys.
BTW—“intrinsic” means natural, true or real. And I didn’t need dictionary.com or Google to figure that out.
