Mabel’s supposed to come up with 100 adjectives to describe herself that she must then incorporate into a story for school. (Yes, she and I agree that excessive adjectives can get in the way of a “show-don’t-tell” writing aesthetic–but that’s the assignment.) She had sixty already, and I told her I’d try to come up with some more, without consulting her list first, so as not to influence me. (I was influenced, however, by her telling me she wants her story to be about starting at a new school last year and making new friends. I also had a little help from a thesaurus.)
Here was my list:
playful, inquisitive, persistent, untidy, energetic, enthusiastic, exuberant, thoughtful, adventurous, ambitious, creative, absurd, silly, fearless, intense, emotional, extreme, variable, delightful, fun-loving, talkative, loquacious, verbose, analytical, challenging, investigative, questioning, enterprising, audacious, comedic, humorous, headstrong, mischievous, teasing, impish, thrifty, prolific, excessive, diverse, multi-talented
Then I looked to see how what I had compared with what she already had:
social, quirky, awkward, impulsive, short, meticulous, gloomy, organized, angry, sloppy, absurd, repetitive, amusing, talkative, playful, shrewd, gallant, uncertain, complex, lovable, excessive, eloquent, giggly, pinchy, Pythagorean, sappy, stiff, inquisitive, mathematical, obsessed, loose, vexatious, wandering, connected, imaginative, original, inspirational, immature, pessimistic, nosy, smiley, single, dreamy, irritating, enduring, religious, faithful, attentive, capable, inane, accurate, wheezy, comedic, steadfast, dependable, perceptive, modest, extreme, radical, rash, comprehending, unrestrained, significant, influential, persuasive, corrective, enchanting, haphazard, juvenile, aware, sympathetic, economical
Update: Here’s her completed list.
absentminded
absorbed
absurd
accurate
affectionate
ambitious
amusing
analytical
articulate
associated
attentive
audacious
aware
awkward
capable
comedic
complex
comprehending
conciliatory
connected
convivial
coordinated
corrective
dependable
dexterous
dreamy
eloquent
emotional
enchanting
enduring
enterprising
excessive
expeditious
experienced
experimental
extreme
exuberant
faithful
favorable
flexible
forgetful
giggly
gregarious
haphazard
headstrong
imaginative
immature
impulsive
inane
influential
inquisitive
inspirational
irritating
juvenile
loose
loquacious
lovable
mathematical
meticulous
mischievous
modest
nosy
oblivious
obsessed
organized
original
perceptive
persistent
persuasive
triumphant
playful
polite preoccupied
prolific
Pythagorean
quirky
radical
rash
reckless
reformatory
religious
repetitive
resourceful
sappy
short
shrewd
significant
single
sloppy
social
spastic
steadfast
testifying
triumphant
uncertain
unrestrained
untidy
verbose
vexatious
virtuous
wandering
Here are a few more I could quickly add off the top of my head: Intelligent, Smart, Beautiful, Perky, Pretty, Cute, Pulchritudinous, Elegant, Blue-eyed, Brunette, Moody, Kind-hearted, Soft-hearted, Stubborn, Observant, Honest, Courageous, Brave, Clean, and Reverent.
Ha. We were also thinking of adding “honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous . . .”
Pythagorean? Is she composed of right triangles? Tell her to add smart to her list (or is that too dull an adjective?).
No, I am of the Pythagorean religion. Sort of. (A^2 + B^2 = C^2, y’all!)
(That was Mabel.)
artistic, too. (to boot!)
Stupendous!