I ran into Alice, a former neighbor, running with her daughter.
First question we always have for one another is, so what are you reading?
I start carrying on about a novel called Belgravia, written by Julien Fellowes who wrote Downton Abbey by saying, it begins on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, using the word, pivotal, in my abbreviated description.
Her preteen, well-mannered daughter Sara, asks its meaning.
I loved that she didn’t know, but was bright enough to ask. At her age I would have been bored and embarrassed, but being her mother’s daughter she too is an avid reader who loves language.
When you read a lot, your vocabulary can’t help but to increase, therefore you speak with an elegance you’re not always aware of. It’s one of the many boons books bring within their binding.
Alice lets me take the helm since I used the word, so I say in Susannahese, it means it’s key to the story, appearing throughout, hoping my clipped meaning was correct.
I look at Alice for verification.
“That’s right,” she says, think when you pivot in dance class Sara, you go all the way around coming back to where you started because your starting point is that important.”
How I loved watching Sara listen, making the word her own.
When I came home, I still looked it up….an adjective…
Of crucial importance…the report was missing a pivotal piece of information. Central, urgent and necessary. Something that appears throughout. A sliding or pivotal motion.
I knew all three of us would remember this story since it would forever be essential, vital and pivotal, to our ongoing, literary relationship. 
🙂
SB
I was raised in a rural area where speech was basic. Double negatives were common as were weird contractions. There I was using words with 3 and 4 syllables. I read so many books as a kid and many books that were beyond my age (don’t tell Mom) that it influenced my speech. I always swore that my success in business was tied to my early reading habits and the ability to be articulate. The flip side was that I didn’t have any besties in the ‘hood.
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That’s a wonderful testament to the bounty of books. Words infiltrate your senses. I’m always amazed at my vocabulary more for knowing words being used then me actually using them. They have power. Thanks for sharing this.
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I read books as a child, too, and I had an excellent vocabulary. Unlike Kate, it sometimes came back to hit me in the face. Why? Because I didn’t know how to pronounce the words I learned from reading!!! That has not ended yet. Only a few years ago, my post-college daughter fell off a chair laughing at something I mispronounced. *sigh* At least, it brought great amusement.
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You’re one of the most articulate writers I’ve ever had the privilege of corresponding with…tell that to your daughter. Make sure!!!
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LOL!! You mean rub her nose in it???? Thanks for the very kind words. You and I love writing. I’m so glad it isn’t a contest, like batting a badminton ball back and forth over a net.
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It’s always good to stay in ones lane. 🙂
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Also using big words when you are a child does not make you popular. No street cred!
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It would have made you precocious. Now there’s a word.
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I guess my friends were used to me.
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All that matters is that youes’a writa’ no matta’ what, to quote David Stewart:)
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Sometimes I forget just how many words I know – and where they hell are they when I’m writing something that ends up inviting ennui?
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You just penned this, though modest, and ennui, such a great word, just skated across the page. No ennui in my estimation…:)
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You’re too kind – I like you!
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I was merely stating the truth Madam.
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I’m still amazed at the new words I learn, even after all this time of life and reading. English has quite a prodigious lexicon. 🙂
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And you’re a professor.
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Susannah, a good vocabulary is an added bonus to escaping into an author’s world. Just like Anne Mehrling, I too would mispronounce words I never heard spoken aloud. I began reading Agatha Christie when I was 12 and pronounced her name a-GATH-a, ha ha. As a freshman in college a boyfriend once told me he loved to listen to me because of my vocabulary. Until then I wasn’t cognizant of it.
Your friend’s daughter is on the right track. The ability to read and comprehend quickly is a tremendous asset throughout life. In fact, it’s pivotal!
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I’m always flattered you read my pieces since you’re a teacher by profession. A compliment to little old, uneducated me. Self-taught with no scrolls, but books as far as the eye can see not always accurate either in meaning or pronunciation, but I say, that’s okay. To quote Mr. Jefferson, I can’t live without books. 🙂
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Susannah, you are more educated (self-taught or not) than many college graduates. And that’s no baloney!
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I am positively beaming Skinny. Thank you.
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I must admit that Tops early reading list looked like something the Vice Squad might be investigating. I’m going out on a limb here, but I think it’s safe to say the only vocabulary I learned were sexual or crime related. Nothing like some Jackie Collins in your early 20’s to ignite your already heated libido.
We need more Saras in this world!
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My first book was Valley of the Dolls I stole from my mother, I read under the bed. Took me a while to get Barbie was not the doll they were referring to. 🙂
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OMG! I must say, forbidden literature is riveting.
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Especially under the bed with a flashlight. 🙂
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