Word of the Day: January 20, 2023

vulpine

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adjective | VUL-pine

What It Means

Vulpine is a formal word that means “of, relating to, or similar to a fox.” It is also used figuratively to mean “shrewd or crafty.”

// The makeup artist did an incredible job creating realistic vulpine features to complement my fox costume.


Examples

“I was reading in peace when a shocking noise came through the window: the sound of a person shrieking in distress. ... A spurt of hasty Googling revealed that I was hearing ‘vixen screeches’—the mating calls of local red foxes. ... Breeding season in Massachusetts, where I’m currently located, is approaching its conclusion. Silence will soon return. But a part of me will miss the adrenaline spikes caused by these haunting vulpine screams.” — Molly Young, The New York Times, 26 Feb. 2022


Did You Know?

In Walden (1854), Henry David Thoreau described foxes crying out as they hunted through the winter forest, and he wrote, “Sometimes one came near to my window, attracted by my light, barked a vulpine curse at me, and then retreated.” Thoreau’s was far from the first use of vulpine to describe our sly friends; English writers have been applying that adjective to the foxlike as well as the shrewd and crafty since at least the 15th century, and the Latin parent of our term, vulpinus (from the Latin word vulpes, meaning “fox”), was around long before that. Incidentally, the scientific name of the red fox, one of two possible North American fox species to have cussed out Thoreau, is Vulpes vulpes.


Larger Vocabulary = More $$

Not enough people realize that it is our ability to use our language that will determine our place on the social pyramid–and that will also control, to a great extent, the amount of money we will earn during our lives. Research has shown over and over that a person’s vocabulary level is the best single predictor of occupational success (more info). Ready to reach the top? Subscribe and receive a new word daily via TXT!


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Facts & Statistics

"A person may dress in the latest fashion and present a very attractive appearance. So far, so good. But the minute he opens his mouth and begins to speak, he proclaims to the world his level on our social pyramid...Our use of our language is the one thing we can't hide."

Earl Nightingale (one of the greatest self-improvement authors of all time) conducted of a 20-year study of college graduates. "Without a single exception, those who had scored highest on the vocabulary test given in college, were in the top income group, while those who had scored the lowest were in the bottom income group."

Another study by scientist Johnson O'Connor, who gave vocabulary tests to executive and supervisory personnel in 39 large manufacturing companies:

Presidents and VPs

236 out of 272

Managers averaged

168 out of a 272

Superintendents averaged

140 out of 272

Foremen averaged

114 out of 272

Floor bosses averaged

86 out of 272

In virtually every case, vocabulary correlated with executive level and income.

In a "Reader's Digest" article titled "Words Can Work Wonders for You", author Blake Clark told a fascinating story of a salesman in his 50s who scored in the bottom 5% of a standardized vocabulary test. He worked himself into the top 45% and became a vice president of the company.

You can reach the top! We may not all be brilliant enough to be the top in our fields, but we can certainly be in the top 5%–including you.

"Let's face it, from the earliest times, the favored class of people has always been the educated class. They can make themselves recognized instantly, anywhere, by the simple expedient of speaking a few words. Our language, more than anything else, determines the extent of our knowledge.

Step out, and make something more of yourself!