Anyone can sign up for a word-of-the day email or text message, and I’m pretty sure you can even buy word-of-the-day toilet paper. Frankly, I think the latter is most appropriate because the chances of actually incorporating a new word into your vernacular with a single introduction and a 24-hour period in which is to internalize it, are shit.
Which is why I’m introducing the Word of the Week.
You’re welcome.
Entries will be based upon words I: a) come across in conversation or in my reading that I had to look up and found notable, b) words that are less esoteric but that I deem equal parts awesome, interesting, and underrated, or perhaps, c) more mundane words put to especially poetic uses.
Either way, it’ll be worth your while.
My goal is that one day WoW will no longer be synonymous with the fantasy world of pointy-eared princesses, fire-breathing dragons, and fantastically flexible body armor, but instead connotes a welcome addition to one’s verbal repertoire.
Yeah, I know. A girl can dream.
Though it’s difficult to determine the number of words in the average person’s vocabulary, estimates range in the neighborhood of 5,000, but only a small percentage of those (often less than half) are used in everyday speech and I think that’s a shame. Think how much more colorful our communication would be if our vocabularies were stocked like Oprah’s pantry.
There are roughly 250,000 main entries in the Oxford English Dictionary. So, no worries. We’ll all have vocabularies more unstoppable than Shakespeare (estimates for his incredible word-base range well over 15,000 words) before I find myself scraping for WoW fodder.
Each WoW entry will be complete with the word, part of speech and pronunciation a la dictionary entry. In addition, however, I’ll also include examples of sentences featuring the word. If it’s one I came across in my reading, I’ll likely include the original passage and context as well as one or more sentences of my own, but examples may also include: very short stories, drawings, photographs, and/or poetry. Get excited.
The comment section of the post itself may be used to exercise your verbal virility and I’ll feature the best Word of the Week comment at the start of each new post. Bonus points to anyone who uses the WoW in a comment anywhere on Insolence is Bliss, or in a tweet, personal blog post, graffiti, or needlepoint.
Anyone who uses it on a birthday cake will automatically win. Unless someone shaves it into the side of his/her head that week. In which case, you’re out of luck.
Past WoW entries may be viewed under the “Writings” tab: look for “Word of the Week” under “Categories.”
I considered posting these every Wednesday, but Word of the Week Wednesday is way too much alliteration. Right now I’m leaning towards Mondays. Stay tuned.
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