A few things that have been pending lately that relate to words and their various uses.

Firstly, one of my favorite new web sites : The Word Nerds. My appreciation for this ought to be quite obvious to anyone who knows me… it’s just so very like me. Their latest podcaast discusses fustian language and considering how frequently I’m accused of being willfully obtuse in my word choice (a complete untruth), I couldn’t help but share.

As it happens, they cover 2 of the major reasons I tend towards uncommon or, occasionally, somewhat unwieldy terms. Of course, I won’t deny that it is, in some small part, to sound smart. I’d be lying if I claimed otherwise, and I don’t do that. Nonetheless, that’s far the lesser reason, overshadowed by these others.

First and foremost, sometimes you just can’t express yourself without using a particular word, or at least without resorting to lengthy, inelegant sentences. Frequently, my choice of a word is based on the fact that it’s simply the most appropriate to the particular situation.

The second reason these self-described nerds cover involves the use of such language as a means to educate or, as they say it, “raise the cultural bar.” I am guilty of this as well. I like to use tough words, because I like to keep them in circulation. I like that people may have to crack the dictionary to keep up with me occasionally. It’s a little arrogant, perhaps, but I don’t care… language is a wonderful thing and I want people to get a sense of that.

I actually have a fourth reason that may or may not be implicit, but I will share it anyway. I love words. I enjoy learning new ones. I enjoy explaining their meanings. I love finding just the right word or phrase. I say this may be implicit because it’s sort of foundational to all the others reasons I’ve given… who else but someone with a particular affection for words would act this way? Or buy expensive multi-volume dictionaries? No one, that’s who.

My next topic is Scrabble®, the venerable crossword game, and one of my favorite pastimes these days. I’ve played several games with g and The Lady g and we keep careful track of our scores over time in order to see how we’re improving (or not, as the case may be). I had been losing to g consistently until the arrival of my father’s old 1970’s era board, with turntable and dark wood tiles and effective tile stays. Something about playing on that real board woke my latent skills and I have won the last 2 games.

There are pictures of the final boards here and here.

In the first, I managed to clear my rack and achieve an 84 point turn (by far my personal best) with the word “obliges”… gotta love that 50 point bonus.

The second board represents a lightning round, in which g and I only had 1 minute to place a word and The Lady g 2 minutes (English being a second language for her). It ended up quite an interesting game, much better than most, and I barely eked out a win, triumphing only because I closed the board and g lost 1 point from his single remaining tile.

I find it all quite engaging.

I hesitate to post this last item because shameless self-promotion is not really my thing. Nonetheless, I shall provide the following link, with attendant shame, and say only that you few readers may find my words elsewhere on the internets this day. It’s very exciting to me.

See, here.

Monday, July 24th, 2006 @ 1:31 pm Deep Thoughts, Movies
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