Odds & Ends

Although this was deleted under the stringent anonymity policy on NF's blog, I would like to post it here for the edification of all. Words are weighty things, my friends. Don't use them if you don't know what they mean (unless you want to sound like a pompous lackwit).

Hi,
It's me again. I have absented myself from the majority of this inanity, but I can't bear to see words misused. The propensity for malapropism, while charming in Shakespeare's ancillary characters, is highly undesirable in the modern, tighter style that you seem to be aiming for.

Let’s try a simple substitution exercise.

Here’s the sentence as you had it:

I seriously am made to wonder if perhaps I read this book when I was very young, and sublimated entire passages at a time.

Now let’s exchange the word for your definition of it.

I seriously am made to wonder if perhaps I read this book when I was very young, and{diverted the energy associated with (an unacceptable impulse or drive) into a personally and socially acceptable activity} entire passages at a time.

The clearest meaning that arises from this muddy mess is that the reading of the book is the result of an unacceptable impulse or drive. Even a very loose, broad interpretation would leave a reader with the understanding that the act of reading the book is somehow an unacceptable impulse or drive and that you are a socially acceptable activity, as a result of the word’s placement in the sentence.

Whereas, with the substitution of “assimilated” defined by dictionary.com (a very handy resource, indeed) as “to incorporate and absorb into the mind” :

I seriously am made to wonder if perhaps I read this book when I was very young, and assimilated {incorporated and absorbed into the mind} entire passages at a time.

the sentence achieves clarity and sense.

Ockham’s Razor would lead us to believe that rather than intending to coin a tortuous and nonsensical figure of speech, you simply misunderstood the meaning of “sublimate”, which is after all, very close in sound and in some ways similar to “assimilate”.

I hope this explanation has been helpful to you. I know I've enjoyed it.