If the only tool possessed is a hammer, there is only so much one can do. Add a saw and the possibilities dramatically increase. Add some nails, screws, screwdriver, wrenches, crowbar, level, router, jigsaw, and drill with bits, and now we're talking serious possibilities.
 
Words are the tools of thinking. The more we have, the more things we can do with our mind. Why do large vocabularies characterize outstanding men and women? The best answer seems to be that words are the instruments by which people grasp the thoughts of others and with which they do their own communication.1 Small vocabulary means small mental input and output; large vocabulary means large input and output.
 
To add more to your cerebral tool chest costs nothing but a little effort, but effort is a price few people wish to make. For most, the vocabulary they possess at the age of 13 is essentially the same at 80. There are more than 800,000 words in the Oxford English Dictionary, but the average American uses no more than 12,000. Even a reasonably well-educated college graduate will seldom have command of more than 20,000.
 
The words used reflect the depth of the mind. A healthy vocabulary makes a person interesting and challenging to partners and it sends the message in the workplace that you are not ordinary and should be respected. There is no downside to growing vocabulary, but there is unlimited upside. Those are the rare odds to always look for in life.
 
Here are ways to start adding word tools to your repertoire. First, do a lot of reading. Reading teaches new words and how to use them well. Keep a notebook, enter the pronunciation and definition of new words, and copy the sentence in which the word was found. Periodically go back and review. Make it a point to use these newly found tools in speech and writing. That will help embed them into memory and make them a part of your working vocabulary.
 
Buy books and audio programs that teach new words. If you subscribe to Reader's Digest, be sure to pay attention to that little section on building vocabulary. Check the inside back page of The Atlantic, where new words are listed each month. Go to dictionary websites and subscribe to their free on-line word of the day e-mail lists. Pay attention to the speech of others and note new words. If you don't know the meaning, go home, look the words up, and enter them in your little book. When reading, mark the words you want to learn and look them up later. Don't read without a pen in hand.
 
Watch intelligent television such as the book reviews on C-span, and commentator and editorial programs. Listen for new words and observe how smart folks use them. Don't watch TV without a notepad nearby. Before long, errors will stand out (they said "nucular," not "nuclear," or "vetnarian," not "veterinarian"). Even those who are intellectually superior make mistakes you may catch and that will in turn give you confidence that you need not be in awe of anyone.
 
Finally, although it may seem daunting, study a dictionary. Really. Begin with the "A's." A thesaurus and a dictionary of etymology would be good, too. Just do a little at a time. Many of the words will already be familiar so it will go fast. Little things, as noted in a previous chapter, can add up to really big things that can make a huge difference in your life. So just begin. Mark the words you do not know and want to add to your tool chest. Go back and keep reviewing them.
 
Use memory aids like finding something in the word that reminds you of something. The mind is like a gigantic framework to which new things must hook in order to be retained. It's easier to hook something new to an existing crossbeam than to hope it will remain by setting it off all by itself in the thin air of your brain.
 
For example, armamentarium means a gathering of drugs, tools, or other things to be used for a task. It sounds like, and is derived from, arms. Arms, you know, are all the weapons an army has at their disposal. To be armed is to have all the things needed to go to war. So the "arm" part of armamentarium is the memory trigger for the meaning of the word. It doesn't have to make sense. It can be nonsense as long as it hooks to your existing mental lattice and triggers memory. Immigrant has the "in" sound, so remember that an immigrant is coming "in" to the country. An emigrant goes away from, "e"-xits the country.
 
When thinking about a new word, think of what general category it falls under. For example, frugal and impecunious both fit under money. Metaphysics and deductive both fit under philosophy. When trying to recollect the words, these are the headings to look under to find them. Arrange new words in your notebook under these headings. File cards may work better because they can be deleted, added, and rearranged easily. By being your own lexicographer the information becomes tailor-made to you and is much more likely to be retained.

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​Just as the body needs exercise to keep its strength and flexibility, so does the mind. Growing vocabulary is like doing reps and sets for neurons. It is a lifelong adventure that will open up never ending intellectual doors.
 
Begin today. One word at a time, one dictionary page a week, one book a month, whatever you are comfortable with—just don't get too comfortable. Nothing good comes easily and "no pain, no gain" applies to growing mind muscles just as it does to body muscle.
 
Words can be fun, too. My favorite big word is "sesquipedalian." It means, of all things, tending to use big words. Or, if you go to medical school you can learn about a surgery connecting the gall bladder, hepatic duct, and intestine called, hepaticocholecystostcholecystenterostomy, and a respiratory disease caused by the inhalation of silicate or quartz dust called, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.