Most of the time, whenever I see blue numbers or words to review, I review them immediately even though I’ve already met my goal. Sometimes I get 999+ words to review and it’s really tiring. I worked hard reviewing all those words in one go (85 - 99% correct answers), until I got really lazy in the following days. I broke my streak when I refused to review and I mean this is a finished course which requires a lot of reviewing.
Is it necessary to review words immediately when you see them needed to get reviewed?
If it’s okay to review 150 words (150 points if correct) per day which the amount of words to complete a daily goal, will you forget the remaining words in the following days?
The reason I review everything immediately is that I’m afraid to forget those words. But then, it’s really tiring as a take new courses. Sometimes I neglect the course and come back after a few months.
@ekoi1995 Once I master notions, I no longer need to review them. English is my second language (French being first).
If I was to have to learn and remember the following English words: palimpsest, persiflage, steatopygous, chiasmus and chthonic, I’d review them until I’m proficient enough with them that I can use them in conversation.
Otherwise, what good would it be for me to review “review”, “I”, “good”, “otherwise”, etc.? I know them, and can’t forget them.
It depends how well you know the words. With newly learned words (that come up for review after a short time, hours or a few days), it is really better to review them soon, before you forget them. With older courses, where you review words after a few months, it really doesn’t matter much if you get to them a few days later.
I’d say just pay attention to your scores. If you get most of the words correct, you’re fine. If you get a lot of wrong answers, it’s time to work on the course more closely.
Ooooh @ian_mn I see what you are trying to do, here.
It will be my pleasure.
1- I have been a D&D DM for 29 years, so chthonic deities can actually be a conversation topic between D&D fans. We can have loooooong conversations about the Drow, the Underdark. Example: “The chthonic races of Dragonlance can’t hold a candle to the ones of Forgotten Realms.”
2- Persifler, in French: Tourner quelqu’un en ridicule par des compliments ironiques, se moquer de lui. (Dictionnaire Larousse) And it is one that we use, in my family, when basically telling someone to stop making fun of people. As in: “Stop the persiflage about your aunt’s divorce.” Usually, it ends the conversation, as you’re being called an asshole (usually rightfully so).
3- Palimpsest - not common, but my late sister used to draw a lot - and well. She had this crippling perfectionism that, upon drawing the first 3-4 lines of a drawing, if she wouldn’t like them, she would erase and start over. At some point, we were in an art store and she was drooling over expensive artsy paper sheets. My father bluntly told her: “No way. They’d all have a single hole in the middle of them, so often you’d start over the drawing. They’d be palimpsests.” She didn’t know what it was, I didn’t either, but he did. I’ve known ever since. I was also part of the SCA for 7 years. In historical calligraphy and illumination, that’s a word you come up more than once.
4- Chiasmus - Actually, this one is funnier in French, as Chiasme sounds like chiasse (the runs). It is one of several figures of style, along with assonance, allitération, hyperbole, parable, allegory, etc. Which we are all taught in high school (equivalent to grade 11 and 12 to the US system). Not everybody remembers it out of high school, but enough people do that it is not unheard of. With a couple of friends, in college, we used to say “Tu viens-tu de me faire un’ chiass’, là?” (with the double-entendre of almost completely muting the “e” after “un” and the “me” at the end of “chiass”). We used to say that when one of us was trying to be grandiloquent or liked to hear himself talk too much.
5- Steatopygous - This one I haven’t used yet, I’m waiting for the right context : “What a nice example of steatopygia” (instead of “what a plump b*tt”).
Overall, a person using a 2,000-words vocabulary wouldn’t use them. If using an 80,000-words vocabulary is more your speed, then they can be part of it.
Thanks for the very quick reply - I was curious about how these words would fit into conversations, so thanks for the detailed explanations. You clearly come from a highly educated and interesting family.
I generally stop deliberately learning individual words in a foreign language (non-English, for me) at about 20,000 words - so I would probably never have come across these words. But I think my crossword solving ability (in English) has just improved a little!
The house at 63 Cedar Street in Hyannis is one of the last on that side of the street not converted for commercial use. But it is empty, neglected, for sale. There’s an eerie palimpsest — my memories alive over the failing house: Aunt Dot baking layer cakes in the kitchen with help from Mary Madeiros, the kitchen so huge to me, a breakfast nook off to the right as you came in the back door…
LOL. I find it eccentric when these words are uttered in quotidian parlance unless the speaker wants to sound nerdy. I surmise these words mostly appear on books or probably in lectures.
I think trying these words would be absurdly interesting.
Earlier at school, I ran out of blank paper. Fortunately, I have parchment but has text on it written in graphite. So I tried to erase it but I couldn’t erase the texts completely. It’s fairly faded, but anyways, I’ve written between the spaces. The teacher gave me an expression of incredulity and she was like “What the heck is this?”. “I palimpsest-ed it.” I answered. “Oh, that’s very resourceful of you. And don’t invent words! I doubt that it is used as a verb.” I shrugged but she considered the paper anyway. When I got home, Mom, who is a couch potato, watches TV as usual. “How’s the gym?” I asked her, “The gym was awesome! Few calories burned have I!” “Oh mom! Are we speaking like this again? Again chiasmus speak we?” “Of course! I never lose fat. Steatopygous have I again.” “Seriously?” “I eat less. Slow metabolism have I.” “Ok mom, you’re still pretty and T. H. I. C. C.” “T. H. I. C. C.?” “steatopygously sexy”.
I worked hard reviewing all those words in one go (85 - 99% correct answers), until I got really lazy in the following days. I broke my streak when I refused to review and I mean this is a finished course which requires a lot of reviewing. 
