You've got a choice of two words (or more) in your head. They might mean more or less the same thing. How do you choose?
Hint: It's not the word with Latin roots.
English is a Germanic language. In a semi-educated explanation, it started off as Anglo-Saxon. French, Spanish and Italian came from Latin roots. English did not.
All those teachers and wise others who tell you to take Latin to score higher on the SAT? They could be right about the SAT, but the best use of knowing Latin is to know which word NOT to use. Did the word come from Latin? Then use another one.
The most powerful words in English, the words that will hit your readers in the gut, are the words with Anglo-Saxon roots. If you can't figure out which words are Anglo-Saxon in origin and which words come from the Roman occupation of Britain or William the Conqueror's 1066 invasion (hint: he was French), get a good dictionary that gives you the word's origins. Many versions of the Oxford English dictionaries give this information.
Sometimes you just know it in your gut, which is, after all, the whole point. Which sentence hits you most deeply:
1. When you brush your cat, you help her shed.
2. When you brush your cat, you help her exvuviate.
There are better and plentiful examples. I was glad to see your face. I was glad to see your visage. That last one might make you want to be sure you're all buttoned up.
So, go ahead. Take Latin. Maybe it will help your test scores or to interpret the bloated writing of people drawn to Latinate words. But when it comes to your own writing, use what you know of Latin to defenestrate those words. (Throw them out of the window.)
