100 Words Every High School Grad Should Know

This list is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I have a Master's Degree in English and even I don't know some of these words. Methinks the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries are suffering from a case of inflated ego. A few of the words:

abjure
abrogate
abstemious
bowdlerize
expurgate
jejune
lugubrious
moiety
obsequious
orthography
pecuniary
unctuous

Honestly, I've gone through 35 years of living and never even heard these words used in conversation. More importantly, they are rarely used in writing as well. Why on earth would I bother wasting several Megabytes of brain capacity learning to use archaic words that are worthless in day-to-day usage? To display "linguistic superiority" over others? Only a silly dictionary editor could come up with this crap.

As a former Technical Writer, I think it's more important to stress how to use language simply. Tossing vocabulary at people is merely confusing for most of the population and leads to problems and lack of communication, especially when writing instructions or directions for people who speak English as a second language. Proposing words like this is nothing short of ignorant.

[100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know]

The 100 Unsexiest Men of 2007

Ann Coulter's in there!

[The 100 Unsexiest Men of 2007]

The Most Controversial Films of All Time

Excellent list. Having seen several of them, I will say it's a pretty good list.

[Most Controversial Films of All Time]

The 99 Most Desirable Women of 2006

According to AskMen.com. While I agree with their top pick (and #4), some of these ladies are fairly unknown.

[Top 99 Women 2006]

One of Those Music List Thingys

I'm not a fan of the end-of-year lists that seem to bombard us every Christmas season. I'm still miffed about that "Best 100 Movies of the Century" list put out back in 1999.

But I'm also a fan of free stuff. Hence my conundrum.

Here is a list of The Top 100 Tracks of 2006 (Pitchfork). Even if I don't agree with what's on their list, there is no better way to discover new music and even download a few freebies!

List of the 10 Most Censored Countries

Check out the CPJ’s list of the “10 Most Censored Countries.” China, surprisingly, didn't make the list.

10,000 Reasons Civilization is Doomed

Only 10,000? This is a seriously entertaining website.
Read reason #1318, my personal favorite.