Appropriate Words

I know a lot of words. I've always known a lot of words. I read, I listen, I remember. Little Professors: a phrase used by Hans Asperger to describe the children in his study. When I was younger I stayed up late to finish writing something, and woke up early to read something else before going to school. I owned a thesaurus and used it. I used words the teachers didn't know. If I hear an interesting word, it sticks in my head until I find a definition, then it sticks in my head as a defined word. I was a Little Professor.

The problem is using the right word in every situation. It's said that we tend to be more articulate than most, and even verbose at time, and for most cases I believe that that's true (my friends have even asked me why I use 'big words', to which I answer 'because they are the most accurate words in this context'). The most common occurrence I have noticed with myself is referring to females, of any age. I know young females are girls, and that old females are women. I think the term 'ladies' is often used satirically (at least in modern UK culture). Women refer to other women as 'the girls'. 'Lads' is only used to describe a guy's friends, and it's always a 'couple of blokes'. So what do I call my early-twenty-something female friends? What would you call them? My observations suggest that 'girls' is the term despite them being legal adults. Perhaps my issues are with the rules, or lack thereof.

But to step aside from that particular quagmire, it is a consistent problem. It isn't uncommon for the exact word I'm looking for to escape me and I'm left floundering. Recently I was trying to describe something, and I couldn't find the descriptor of the correct intensity. This is perhaps a side effect or a symptom of always wanting to be precise. Sometimes when I'm asked what NTs call a 'yes or no' question, my answer can be quite long. A simple question may ask for my favourite colour (although I can't really think of a situation other than a constructed dating scenario). I would then ask what for? I might like a certain colour shirt, but not want my walls to by that colour. What's good on a car is not necessarily good on someone's head.

I don't really have a conclusion for this item, other than if you didn't know, now you did, and if you did, there's some proof for ya.