Words

If my memory is accurate, and trust me, that's a big 'if,' my first blog was about 'words.'

I'm no wordsmith, but I do enjoy words. I like learning new words, and, most recently, looking closer at words I thought I knew. That happens when you work with kids and they ask a lot of questions about the meaning of words. My college student also throws new words at me.

Just today I had to look up 'requiem' and 'precocious.' I've heard them over the years and had a feel for their meanings but couldn't give an actual definition. With all our great computer tools, looking up words is no longer a laborious process. I have a computer utility for looking up words where all I have to do is highlight a word on the screen and do a ctrl-right click to get definitions, synonyms and other info. Handy for checking spelling, too.

My big brother and I were discussing some of our favorite words last week. 'Conundrum,' 'anomaly,' 'belligerant.' (I used my handy utility on that one to check my spelling - good thing, too, 'cause I had it wrong.) Even yesterday our family was discussing words that end in 'meter.' and how they should be pronounced. Specifically multimeter. Actually this is difficult to write about since I don't have the symbols used in pronunciation guides. So, just think about all the words you know that end in meter and the different ways they are pronounced.

In this political season there have been plenty of words for me to look up. That reminds me of the following story...

Part of American political lore is the Smathers "redneck speech," which Smathers (a politician) reportedly delivered to a poorly educated audience. The "speech" was never given; it was a hoax dreamed up by one reporter. Smathers did not say, as was reported in Time Magazine during the campaign: "Are you aware that Claude Pepper is known all over Washington as a shameless extrovert? Not only that, but this man is reliably reported to practice nepotism with his sister-in-law, and he has a sister who was once a thespian in wicked New York. Worst of all, it is an established fact that Mr. Pepper, before his marriage, habitually practiced celibacy."
The Smathers campaign denied his having made the speech, as did the reporters who covered his campaign, but the hoax followed Smathers to his death.

Those around children will know this...Confusing similar words can be cause for a snicker or two, and I'm not talking about a candy bar! Mercenary for missionary, forgotten for begotten, are the first to come to mind and still bring a smile when I remember the incidents.

And to close with a little humor...
A new monk arrived at the monastery. He was assigned to help the other monks in copying the old texts by hand. He noticed, however, that they were copying copies, not the original books. The new monk went to the head monk to ask him about this. He pointed out that if there were an error in the first copy, that error would be continued in all of the other copies. The head monk said, 'We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son.' The head monk went down into the cellar with one of the copies to check it against the original. Hours later, nobody had seen him, so one of the monks went downstairs to look for him. He heard a sobbing coming from the back of the cellar and found the old monk leaning over one of the original books, crying. He asked what was wrong. 'The word is 'celebrate,' not 'celibate'!' sobbed the head monk.

Celebrate, always celebrate!