Vocabulary Building with dcc

It started back on April 16th when my friend dcc, as he’s known in the blogosphere, forwarded to me Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day: biannual. By May 21st, when the word was plenary (another Biennial favorite!), I’d already signed up to receive the daily emails myself and before too long, one or the other of us was using the word in a sentence – often reflecting the goings-on in our own lives -- and sending it along to the other.

On June 5th I sent dcc this sentence: When there are five mah jongg players, the fifth plays the role of kibitzer.

On June 8th, I sent him this sentence: My new blank journal has a lovely vignette border on each page...and the movie I saw yesterday was filled with wonderful vignettes about the two now-famous art collectors.

On June 10th, when I was at 100 Centre Street for jury duty, I emailed this: Lots of colorful New Yorkers in the jury waiting room, but nobody who's too flamboyant. Let's hope everyone here can follow directions. Yeah, right...

On June 12th, dcc sent me this: Let us hit the links after we finish eating our links, joked the golfer as he scarfed his sausages at the diner.

In the meantime, I continued to receive an additional word a day email from Wordsmith.org and in July, I upped the ante – attempting to use both words of the day in the same sentence. Talk about putting a square peg into a round hole…some of the sentences are quite hilarious:

On July 21st dcc and I had the following exchange:

JanetheWriter: Despite my assiduous efforts, the lighting in the sanctuary at Shaaray Tefila makes reading the prayer book a challenge. Perhaps it is a touch of nyctalopia? Or maybe the lighting is just bad?!

dcc: Darn...I was going to do the same thing. I need to get up pretty early in the morning to beat you to the punch. Granted I am doing clips at 7 a.m. every day and should be able to get there, but with the darkness in my apartment, my assiduous exhaustion and my heavy eyelids leading to nyctalopia, it is a wonder I get my work done, let alone have a witty conversation with a friend.

JanetheWriter: Well done.

And this, just last week on August 17th:

dcc, whose head is shaved, sent me this sentence: Perhaps it would be considered ironic if I chose to be a trichologist.

My reply: Let's hope that when the trichologist (whether it's you or someone else) trims one's hair, it comes out smooth and silky, without the rough edges created by diastrophism.

And finally, this from dcc: That would be bad...but an earth-moving hair cut is sometimes just what the doctor ordered.

As you can see, we two logophiles are sharing wonderful daily adventures with words...and a few laughs along the way. Care to join us? Sign up here for Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day and here for Wordsmith.org's A Word A Day.

See you in the dictionary!

New Year Wishes

Penultimate is one of my very favorite words and thus I am always excited at this time of year to casually mention to anyone who will listen that, “Oh, by the way, Tuesday will be the penultimate day of the year.” According to dictionary.com, penultimate is defined as “next to the last” or “of or pertaining to a penult,” which, according to the same source, is “the next to the last syllable in a word.”

I’ve known the word for some time, but don’t know exactly where or how I learned it. The meanings of other words are newer to me and often come from the “A Word A Day” email that lands in my inbox each morning. From this venue I’ve learned the meaning of these and other words and phrases: “Toronto blessing,” “cibarious” (quite timely as I was in the midst of managing the "chicken, fish and veggie" function for the Union for Reform Judaism's Biennial convention) and “balbriggan." Still others come from experience. Last year at about this time, I was building my vocabulary with such lovelies as hepatitis C, biliary colic, cholecystitis and laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Suffice it to say, I’d have been perfectly happy to stick with “A Word A Day” to enhance my vocabulary.

In any event, that was last year and this is today. As we look ahead to 2009, I offer you these simple words (no dictionary needed) from a Jewish new year card that I received some time ago:

May the new year find you content with your life, happy in your friendships, and at peace with yourself.