My dear friend, let's call her Raymie the Great, (to protect the innocent you see.) has inspired me in many ways over the years. Back in the college days she decided she wanted to improve her vocabulary, a noble pursuit. She did the word-a-day thing. I don't remember the specific method she used to pick her daily word - probably a blind stab at an opened dictionary page or something of the sort. I do remember a few of her choices because she would use her daily word as many times as she possibly could that day to ensure she remembered it, to the point that the words became absurd by the end of the day. BUT she did broaden her vocabulary as well as the vocabulary of everyone else around her. (She generally has that impact on people no matter what she's doing, thus the self-imposed title, 'the great', still sticks.)
One word I remember particularly well because of her slight misunderstanding of the word. She had a date that she wasn't exactly excited to go on. Lon-the-home-teacher ( names still changed, mind you) arrived to pick her up for the night. She came down the stairs and said, and I quote, "Alright, let's get this ordeal on the road". Our mouths dropped, we looked at each other, and Raymie looked at all of us looking at each other. Awkward, there's a good word for that moment. She explained later that she had called 'Lon' before the date and asked him what she should wear to 'the ordeal'. So, really the moment at the front door wasn't as awkward as we thought it was - it was an inside joke by then. As much as Raymie might have felt going on the date was an ordeal, I'm sure she would have never said as much to Lon if she would have really understood the entire meaning of 'ordeal'. If, for example, she had looked up the word in a thesaurus she might have read, 'test, trial, experience' as synonyms. A full definition would, of course, include the information that the test, trial, or experience are extremely trying or severe. Poor Raymie, poor Lon. Although, they were certainly never meant to be a couple and Lon got that message faster than he may have otherwise.
My point in telling you this story (and thanks to 'Raymie' for letting me share it), is that I have a new little project all about words, language, spelling, etc. It's been in the works for awhile but now - after passing a blinking construction sign with two misspelled words, I'm finally ready to get the ball officially rolling.
Click the Wordsmith Project Tab at the top of the page if you want. Or don't. I'm not here to boss you around. If you do go, let me know what you think.
