Precise descriptive vocabulary makes fine distinctions visible and memorable

Evidence

I find the language of microscopic description compelling in its clarity. The edge of a leaf is not simply uneven; there is a glossary of specific words for the appearance of a leaf margin: dentate for large, coarse teeth, serrate for a sawblade edge, serrulate if the teeth are fine and even, ciliate for a fringe along the edge. A leaf folded by accordion pleats is plicate, complanate when flattened as if squashed between two pages of a book. Every nuance of moss architecture has a word. … While they may initially seem like arcane technical terms, these words have life to them. What better word for a thick, round shoot, swelling with water than julaceous ? Mosses are so little known by the general public that only a few have been given common names. Most are known solely by their scientific Latin names, a fact which discourages most people from attempting to identify them. But I like the scientific names, because they are as beautiful and intricate as the plants they name. Indulge yourself in the words, rhythmic and musical, rolling off your tongue: Dolicathecia striatella, Thuidium delicatulum, Barbula fallax. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 80

Categorization

• DEFINE: Glossary of leaf-margin and surface descriptors with the life Kimmerer reads into them.
• CANDY: ‘Julaceous’ for a shoot swelling with water, and rolling names like Dolicathecia striatella, make friendly conversation facts.
• XREF: connects to: The brain creates search images by repeated pattern-and-feedback training — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 71; Learning precise vocabulary changes what a person can perceive — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 76; Sharpened awareness of words sharpens perception of social phenomena. — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 23 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Sharpened awareness of words sharpens perception of social phenomena. #expands (0.85) — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 23
• Learning one place’s name can unravel a whole unnoticed topography #exemplifies (0.75)