October 16 is a special day. Though rarely celebrated outside the confines of grammar school classrooms or public libraries, Dictionary Day commemorates the birthday of American lexicographer Noah Webster, born October 16, 1758. I am not sure how long Dictionary Day has been around, but it appears we have been honoring good ol’ Mr. Webster for quite some time.
Today we are meant to appreciate language and words, and to dust off our dictionary skills. So I thought I would share a bit about why I love words so much. (If you are planning to continue reading, good for you! Most people probably tuned out around “lexicographer.”) 
The book that turned me on to language was not a dictionary, but a fun, silly book my Dai Kou Fu (1st uncle on my mom’s side) gave me when I was very young – The Big Book of Amazing Facts. It was there that I learned the longest English word, found that I could spell “fish” G-H-O-T-I, and discovered palindromes like “radar,” “racecar,” and “Madam, I’m Adam.” (Random note: a friend of mine wrote the coolest palindrome book ever, Ana, nab a banana, and though I don’t think it’s in print any more, if you can find a copy, it is totally worth a read!)
I always loved reading, and my childhood favorites were Encyclopedia Brown, The Hardy Boys, and anything about dinosaurs, Robin Hood, or Greek and Roman legends. If I ever got stuck on a word, I would ask my dad what it meant. I always got the same reply: “Look it up in the dictionary!” And so I did. On a quest for a particular word, I would often wind up leafing through the delicate pages—much thinner than the pages of any of my other books—admiring all the goofy spellings and definitions. I learned that “set” has the most definitions of any word in the English language, and I found countless words that didn’t have any vowels at all, much to my teacher’s chagrin. (Teacher: “All words have vowels.” Me: “But what about ‘cwm’ or ’syzygy’?”) I was such a word nut, I became the youngest person at my school to ever compete in the county spelling bee.
Of course, my favorite board game was Scrabble, and I played against my dad in epic games that lasted late into the night. He would play words like “en” and “em” and all sorts of Welsh spellings that had not yet entered my vocabulary, so of course I would challenge them. Yet every time, we would pop open my dictionary and there they were, so I would file them away in my memory to use the next time we played.
On the editorial team at Meebo, I get to play with words all day long. I spend much of my time deciding how to communicate with you, our users. Does “appearance” make you think wallpapers and chromes? Can you tell that “Sign On” lets you add your other IM network accounts? Does anyone know what a “prosopagnosiac” is?
I don’t know what Mr. Webster would think of the English language today. As we become less and less formal, and with written communication becoming so easy and fast that we can communicate via IM almost entirely in acronyms (omg. lol! j/k brb. asl?), the appreciation of good, meaty, multi-syllabic words seems to be fading away.
So to celebrate Dictionary Day, play with words today. Share your favorite obscure word and try to use it in a conversation. Speak in alliteration, rhymes, palindromes, or puns. Learn to say “hello” in another language. Play Scrabble or Boggle with your friends.
Dr. Webster will thank you.
Ciao,
Greg
[ comments ] [ past blogs ]
October 16th, 2008 at 4:17 am
appreciate your very informative message. thanks. milet
October 16th, 2008 at 4:37 am
thank you .thats right.take care
October 16th, 2008 at 4:40 am
Hello! I’m seventeen year old Filipa and, as I opened my chat account, I read Greg’s message and I was about to close the window when I read that it was great that I still was reading it… (great trick!) So I smiled to myself and continued…
I had to comment it in the end! I also remember my childhood as a magical place where the entry tickets were the Books. My parents bought me like ten books of enid blyton at a time… I got euforic and thought to myself, with my eight year old noughty face… LET THE SHOW BEGIN! I drunk it to the last drop! I always remembered the words that, for me, were magic, like if they were some kind of enchantment!
I am Portuguese ( the country where Cristiano Ronaldo and Mourinho come xD) so forgive my english. I decided to chare some words with you:
brilho (shine); feérica ( enchated and fragile in a fary way – yes, boys! – it is a great touch to say: you are feérica – lol); olá! (Hi); feliz (happy);
see u all!!
***
October 16th, 2008 at 4:47 am
that was so interesting
October 16th, 2008 at 4:50 am
I live in West Hartford, CT — the birthplace of Noah Webster. We are celebrating his 250th birthday this week and into the weekend — with lots of word-related activities! Some of the festivities will take place at our “Blue Back Square”, named after Mr. Webster’s first speller. Have a great day!
October 16th, 2008 at 4:56 am
Namaste!
I personally am not very good wid words n spellings n stuff.. but i recently learnt that the human brain is only concerned with da position of the first n the last alphabet of any word… Hneec yu cn sltil mngaae to raed msot wrods envn if it is slpet wnrgloy… pvoiredd you hvae all the apalhbtes for that wrod…
Now you may thank me fer this wid a meebo t-shirt… :d
Take care.. god bless n keep rockin…. none the less… \m/:)\m/
October 16th, 2008 at 4:57 am
\m/
\m/
October 16th, 2008 at 5:00 am
I too love reading and words. I remember learning to read and have loved it ever since. I do crosswords and word games, and Scrabble is my favorite board game. I think because of this, (or maybe it’s hereditary?) I’m a good speller. I notice so many misspellings in ads and even in newspaper articles. That is a shame. I think one of the bad things about spellcheck is it cannot differentiate meanings and usage of some words. The English language is fascinating and I think would be hard to learn as a second language. I’m glad we have the dictionary to refer to and I do so quite often.
October 16th, 2008 at 5:06 am
I enjoy words very much and am still trying to learn all the acronyms people use online. I type very fast (with all my fingers!) so it is still easier for me to type words out, even here. I loved books as a child and read before kindergarten. I am still more interested in books than tv or dvd or computers. Give me a good book and I am good from cover to cover! But I was intrigued and had to go look up “prosopagnosiac”! Thanks for getting me into the dictionary this morning. I learned something new!!!
October 16th, 2008 at 5:09 am
Hey! As soon as I saw Scrabble I had to post this: http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/11/112706.html
I almost died laughing.
October 16th, 2008 at 5:14 am
Greg,
Appreciate your suggestion. Probably, we should do that more frecuently to amelliorate to some extent that poverty of language is all around.
Grettings from Havana
October 16th, 2008 at 5:14 am
Thank you for sharing.
October 16th, 2008 at 5:44 am
I really enjoyed the piece. I never remembered that today is Dictionary day. I strongly believe that it’s celebration should not be muted. Keep up the good work of getting us informed. Thanks
October 16th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Please keep dictionary a day. I feel this is a great tool for young children as well as old folks like myself.
October 16th, 2008 at 6:27 am
ola estou aqui gostaria de ser sua amiga mas, não falo ingles.
mas podemos tenta sandralopes09@gmail.com.br
ola, seja bem vindo .
October 16th, 2008 at 6:30 am
Awesome blog!
October 16th, 2008 at 6:32 am
[...] greet me with a little vignette, an insight into their company or some other interesting tidbit. This morning’s was particularly interesting: October 16 is a special day. Though rarely celebrated outside the [...]
October 16th, 2008 at 6:48 am
I love words. I love reading. That’s why I don’t understand why other people hate them so much. I have always been fascinated by how writers and poets spin words together to form an art that touches the hearts of millions. It’s simply fantastic that words could make you feel everything — and hey it could take you places too. And this is a really nice post.
October 16th, 2008 at 6:52 am
Greg – Will you marry me? We can grow old playing Scrablle together, and you could teach me a new word every day.
Fabulous blog entry!
October 16th, 2008 at 6:56 am
This post struck a chord with me. I grew up in a house where the popular refrain, was “look it up in the dictionary”. That being said, next to the dining room table was a very large dictionary, that my dad would inevitably pull out if we were debating a word. So I spent many a night with my family leafing through those delicate pages of that behemoth dictionary, learning new words, and learning new things. Language and the precision of language was very much valued. At my dad’s retirement party, my immediate family found out that this dictionary time was not just a family thing, little did we know that this was something he did at work as well. We were very amused to say the least, that this quirk was shared by all and not just by us. Needless to say, dictionary.com is a favorite link for my brother and I. Thanks Dad and Mr. Webster for many hours of interesting tidbits and conversation.
October 16th, 2008 at 7:05 am
My favorite word is FECKLESS. This is one of those rare words that does not have a root. There is no such thing as feck. You cannot be feckful or feckly. You are either feckless or your not. It’s that simple.
What does it mean you ask? Heh…. go look it up!
October 16th, 2008 at 7:12 am
thank you greg for an extremely informative and interesting blog entry! you’re lucky to have a dad that challenged your vocab regularly growing up!
October 16th, 2008 at 7:17 am
That’s interesting. Thank you!
October 16th, 2008 at 7:27 am
Great post. Time to play Scrabble!!!
October 16th, 2008 at 7:47 am
nice one! was so interesting and mind opening thanks so much!
October 16th, 2008 at 7:48 am
[...] From Greg at Meebo [...]
October 16th, 2008 at 8:00 am
omg greg looks kinda hot :]
hahaha
words are fun! but… only words that you know!
omg lol omg lol omg lol!!!
haha just messing (;
rawr. me like words.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:02 am
my favorite word is rawr! i like to make my own words up.
i.e. showereded; sented; snuggleded; kissied; huggles; pikachyu’d
yesh yesh im some kind of “maverick”. I bet sarah palin would think so! lmao
October 16th, 2008 at 8:27 am
it was a good read..thanks for starting my day..
October 16th, 2008 at 8:32 am
OMG!!! What an interesting blog………I loved it. I have dictionary.com open at all times. And I will be sure to intrigue my children’s interest with the “silly” book Dai Kou Fu.
Thanks for the FYI……….
October 16th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Happy Dictionary Day! Thanks for the info. VERY COOL!
October 16th, 2008 at 9:18 am
COOL!
October 16th, 2008 at 9:45 am
This blog was very insightful and nostalgic.
It reminded me of my favorite books as a kid (like The Phantom Tollbooth, Charlotte’s Web, and of course, my Charlie Brown Dictionary). It also reminded me of how one of my teachers used to respond whenever someone asked her how to spell a word when we were in high school, “D-I-C-T-I-O-N-A-R-Y.” I always got a little perturbed when she’d say that because there are always words that sound like they could start with an E that start with a Y or an H or words that start with an F sound that start with Ph, but I still used to laugh whenever she’d use that response.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/ takes the first space on my bookmark toolbar on Mozilla Firefox!
Long Live the Lexicon!
October 16th, 2008 at 9:51 am
it’s also bosses day..!
October 16th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Greg’s cute AND smart. GRRR!
October 16th, 2008 at 9:52 am
For those word lovers who have never seen V for Vendetta, I humbly present to you:
V for Vendetta in Kinetic Typography
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Q0dfrbr10
October 16th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I have been reading books for as long as I can remember. I rarely looked words up in the dictionary, just continued with the sentence until I understood what the word itself meant. I hated the dictionary and I hated how they tried to show you how to sound each word out. That part never made any sense to me. But I read a book a day with no problems so I am sure Mr. Webster would not be too dissappointed in my lack of interest.
Thank you for sharing with us. I did not know today held any importance.
And P.S. The longest word in the dictionary is antidisestablishmentarianism.
October 16th, 2008 at 10:02 am
That link about pallindromes… that was very interesting, some were so funny and you could use them in everyday speech (just that I never once realized that they were spelled the same forwards and backwards, very interesting indeed)!
Two of my favorites on that list are:
Dammit! I’m mad.
A Santa dog lived as a devil God at NASA. (lol)
Well, thank you for this blog, and have a wonderful Dictionary day!
October 16th, 2008 at 10:10 am
I can clearly hear my dad saying to me, “Look it up!” as an answer to a lot of questions I asked him as a kid. I’m so glad he did that instead of just giving me the answer. To this day I can’t beat my grandmother at Scrabble. And “ghoti”…how great it is to learn new wordy geeky things! I love it.
October 16th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Dear Greg,
Thank you for the very informative blog. It was a wonderful piece. Never mind I read it just before going to bed on 16th. I never knew that there would be people still interested in the good old dictionary in this age and time.
Television and the mobile have already spelt the death knell of letterwriting or penning words on paper. Thanks to the internet we have everything that is SMS. Very few people would bother to “look things up in the dictionary” while going through the morning paper or while watching news on television. But a dictionary is a very valuable acquisition and should find a pride of place in every home today, in addition to, of course, the Bible. Also, I feel in today’s shrinking world, it is imperative to keep an atlas handy in every home to locate a place on the Earth.
In my childhood, I loved to play Scrabble with my parents and sister. More often than not, either of my parents would win. As I grew up, such sessions became few and far between. I miss the game very much.
On palindromes, I am familiar with “Madam, I am Adam” but not with the others you mentioned. I am giving you one from my side. It is “Malayalam” my mother tongue, a language which is spoken in the southern state of Kerala in India.
Another fun word is “Smiles” arguably the longest word in English language as there is a “mile” between the two “Ss”
Long live Dictionary Day and lets remember good old Noah Webster for enriching our communicative abilities. Also thank you, once again, for your wonderful article.
Signing off for now. Bon soir.
GOPI CHANDRAN
October 16th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Wow Greg….atleast we get to read something more different and informative aswel.
I love reading and learning new words for various reasons, to list a few, when i want to stand out with my new vocabularies, secondly, always knowing what a word means and some one least expects you too, i love the look in the person’s face when you tell them what’s the meaning on the SO CALLED NEW USED WORD! hahaha..
” shananighans…..when someone has escapes! If you get my drift.
Stay blessed all you guys!
October 16th, 2008 at 11:05 am
To add to that list of palindromes, a south indian language called “Malayalam” is a palindrome!
October 16th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I think I love you.lol.Its awesome that u love words as I do.Peace
October 16th, 2008 at 11:26 am
“Sign on” simply makes me think that’s where I log in, to the main account of all of them together. I would think for adding accounts it would have a name like… *drum roll*… “Add Account”.
October 16th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
its great to hear that you love words
October 16th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Hey! Thanks for sharing. I’m meeting up with a friend tonight and have been thinking about what to do… tired of the same old, coffee, drinks, dinner, blah blah blah… so, I’ve decided that we’re going to a book store tonight in honor of Dictionary Day! thanks for sharing!
October 16th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
hola
October 16th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I had no idea clicking “Sign On” lets me add an account. That doesn’t make sense. Why not just use “Add Account”?
October 16th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
I recommend Balderdash as a great game with which to celebrate Dictionary Day… I love it more than Scrabble! But not more than Boggle.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
i appreciate the information very much and whati love most is that i got to learn more about Mr Webster. as for spelling fish ghoti, i learnt that a long time ago. i’m also part of an editorial team for a leading newspaper in Sierra leone and playing words is something i get to do everyday. thanks Greg.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
this was a great read. thanks.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
thank u for helping me with meebo because i dont now a lot
October 16th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
.bonjour..!!!
this was the first time…i actuallly went up to read a blog till the end….it was so well written and true….i was smiling when i read were u’d written that most people would;ve tuned out at lexicographer….but tht was a useful piece of info….thank you there greg…..and yeah, must i say…the ways of written communication have become bare minimum….
well, its night time here….bon-nuit…
October 16th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Filipa again (third comment) – loved this blog
October 16th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
So, I really had to leave a comment, although I never did it on Meebo’s.
I am brazilian and really identified myself with your text. Could see me when I was a kid, asking parents and brother what did some word meant, and they would always come up with the same “look up in the dictionary!”. It freaked me out, by that time, cause I was so eager to learn that felt that I would die while searching.
Well, I didn’t die and became a word-lover, really passionate about the strength and possibilities of communication. Now I am a journalist and still planning on studying lexicology or philology. In the mean time, I work on this free/ open source project, called Centro de Desenvolvimento de Tecnologias Livres.
Never mind.
Congrats for the text/blog. Really loved it.
Até a próxima!
October 16th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
We studied this today in tech
October 16th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Amanda, that YouTube kinetic typography video clip was cool! Thx! Great comments all around on this blog!
Greg, great blog! My favorite in middle school was the Encyclopedia Brown series, too! My 11.5 yr old daughter brought one home from school, and I STILL couldn’t solve some of the cases! As she says, “You’re such a n00b!” LOL
Your blog inspired me to start reading again. I tried with the Harry Potter series, but life kept getting in the way. And you’re right, we shouldn’t let our expansive vocabulary and wonderful language fade away. Eloquence with words IS an art.
Take care!
October 16th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
okay again: i have INVENTED TEH TERM FOR A MEEBO COMMONER ‘Meeboer’ (Meebo & Goer combined) ((HEY TAHTS WORD RELATED =D))….but yes…MEEBO CRASHES THE SAME TIME…EVERY….DAY….AROUND 6:30pm-7:00 Eastern Time Zone D< please i dont wanna sound rude or demanding but PLEASE if this isnt somehow fixed within a week or so…i guess iw ont be a meeboer much anymore
October 16th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Bon après-midi, i’m from the states and it’s always interesting to see more people appreciate words. I do agree the language is going down the drains as it’s shortened to fit the time and people’s needs. I love to read and even as a child my parents use to fill me with books and i would spend hours in a library. I don’t think i could ever stop reading books or playing word games. Your blog just reminded me that it’s always wonderful to appreciate the little and simpler things in life.
Prost to that & good luck.
P.s you should play the “Name-Place-Animal-Thing” Game–grab a piece of paper and a pen- gather some friends, anyone can pick one letter and in about 10-15 seconds someone should be ready to share.=]
October 16th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Mr. Webster is greatly appreciated and I’m sure he would appreciate the celebration of his 250th Birthday.
Throughout my childhood Scrabble and word games were and still are a family favorite. Some nights my parents would be up until 2 A.M. playing scrabble….about 5 hours after I decided to quit and had gone to bed. During these Scrabble “tournaments” that went late into night the Webster Dictionary would be sitting off to the side just incase a debate over a certain word occured (which it did regularly).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. WEBSTER!
October 16th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
i think that dictionary day is a wonderful way to get people more interested in learning and reading books.
October 16th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
As a linguist in the making, I appreciated your post…I had never seen the “ghoti” item before! Very interesting!
October 16th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Nerds!
ahaha, kidding.
I know how to say hi/hello in a few languages
Selam, salaam, merhaba, bonjour, kneehow (I know that’s not the transliteration, I’m just going by the way I say it xD)
I’m not good with words, sad when I forget the spellings of some of the most basic spellings of basic words. Chat speak has corrupted my braaain! lol
October 16th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
honestly, we don’t give
October 16th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
OMG i didnt know that anyone else celebrated dictionary day! wow. hey- theres this wierd al yankovic song called “bob” about palendromes, and theres a book out with the suspicious title “the joy of lex” and “the joy of lex 2″ that are really funny and kooleo. thanks for posting the blog, so more people could celebraate dictionary day. ps: international waffle day is tomorow, and october is: breast cancer awareness month, hispanic heritage month, date rape awareness month, and a handful of others. I think (but im not sure) if its national breakfast month, because oct. first is rumored to be pankake day, and the 29th is national egg day. dont ask me how I knnow this. I wont answer.
October 16th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
cool
October 16th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
u r so weird!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Great post.
In all honesty, I clicked on “comments” to comment on the fact that Greg is a man after my own heart, and that I am thinking him and I should marry. He is a book smart Nerd (he works for Meebo, come on!), and he seems ridiculously good looking. I mean, what else could I ask for? *sigh*
We should marry. It’s legal. It’s California. Think about it Greg.
October 16th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
haha. what r these comments for? these i dont get i just exit out of em. haha BORING bye i dont no u
October 16th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
[...] (Thanks, meebo.) [...]
October 16th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Greg… I think I love you! It is so nice to hear that SOMEBODY out there appreciates one of my favorite books, the dictionary. I get teased plenty because I love my dictionaries! I am 52 years young, have ALWAYS heard the same reply as you…. my mother would tell me to keep a dictionary nearby when reading (which I love to do)… so if I come upon a word I don’t know, I can look it up right away, then re-read the sentence so that it makes sense to me. I have tried to pass on my love of the English language (word games mostly) and my love of the dictionary to my 16 year old son… his reply? WTF? I gave up!
October 16th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Mabuhay!
I’m Joanne from the Philippines. I am an English teacher. Your post was so interesting. I love it! I even shared it with my students (3rd Grade). They were amazed by the fact that you can spell “fish” G-H-O-T-I.
My students asked me to tell you some Filipino words. Here they are:
1. Mabuhay – This means “long live” but it is commonly used here in the Philippines as a welcome greeting.
2. Paalam – This means “goodbye”.
3. Salamat – This means “thank you”.
Salamat, Greg. c”,)
Paalam!
October 16th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
hmm, dictionaries, eh?
-Have you looked through Webster’s 1828 Dictionary? I found it to be very different from modern dictionaries today. The definitions seem more concise as well.
October 16th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
happy dictionary day! since birth, its the time now that i know, there is such a dictionary day, and thanks to greg, who is so kind enough to share his wide knowledge on general information. my mother is a librarian, and she even doesny know that there is such that dictionary day. from now on, i will share this information to my classmates or whoever they are that today, october 16, is a dictionary day. mabuhay, long live the source informant.
October 16th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Hi guys
LOL
Anne, with all due respect, ‘kneehow’ is actually spelt as ‘ni hao’ (你好). That’s the ‘han yu pin yin’ (汉语拼音) of Chinese…(” ,)
Greg, your depth and knowledge of the English language is pretty amazing. Kudos to you…(” ,)
I love books too, fiction, non-fiction alike…but recently I’ve been onto more non-fiction ones, especially Dr Chuck Spezzano’s books from Psychology of Vision.
The thing is, when I pick up fiction books, I never remember the authors’ names and titles of the books…haha
I remember in particular this genre of book that I briefly read when young: they would start with a story plot, and then get to a certain point in the story where you get to choose a few storylines to continue with, then flip to that corresponding page…I believe they no longer had that in print already…
One of the book that touched me really deeply and left an indelible print in my mind was one real life account from a survivor of Khmer Rhouge, picked up when I went to Cambodia (I became interested in Pol Pot and Khmer Rhouge years ago when I first read about it in Reader’s Digest; it was simply beyond understanding how a single man could cause 2 million of his own people to die). I could feel the tragedy of the war, feel the suffering of the people, their fear, their hunger, their losses…my emotions ebb and flow with the story; it was very heartwrenching…this is one book that I will always remember.
Of cos then, there’re other favourites like Reader’s Digest, Discovery, National Geographic and the like…I love reading about science, especially archeology (digs); they fascinate me to no end…and lastly, I chanced upon a magazine ‘Dream Homes International’ recently in a workshop project where all the most gorgeous homes were featured: it’s my dream to one day be able to live in one…(” ,)
Ahem…so much said…lastly, I wish all of you wonderful people a very good day today.
Bless you all!!
~Love, and blessings
Angel
October 16th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
lol r u doing anything on this day
October 16th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
My teacher was talking about this too!!!
She said Noah Webster made the dictionary !!!!
How cool is that!
October 16th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I was sent an email a few years back. It was entitled “Migraine Maker”. And I believe it really is.
I think I was only able to get a few answers. The rest were headache-causing, migraine inducing word puzzles! Some words are even marked by the spell checker as unrecognized words! I don’t even know if they exist.
1. Scintillate, scintillate, asteroid minific.
ANS: twinkle twinkle little star.
2. Members of an avian species of identical
plumage
congregate.
ANS: birds of the same feather flock together
3. Surveillance should precede any vertical
movement.
4. Pulchritude possesses solely cutaneous
profundity.
5. It is fruitless to become precipitately from
departed lacteal fluid.
ANS: it is useless to cry over spilt milk
6. Freedom from incrustations of grime is
contiguous to rectitude.
7. The stylus is more potent than the claymore.
ANS: the pen is mightier than the sword
8. It is fruitless to attempt to indoctrinate a
superannuated canine with innovative maneuvers.
ANS: it is useless to teach an old dog new tricks
9. Eschew the implement of correction and vitiate
the scion.
10. The temperature of the aqueous content of an
unremitting ogled saucepan does not reach 212
degrees
Fahrenheit.
11. All articles that coruscate with resplendence
are not truly auriferous.
12. Where there are visible vapors having their
prevalence in ignited carbonaceous materials,
there is conflagration.
ANS: where there is smoke, there is fire(?)
13. Sorting on the part of mendicants must be
interdicted.
14. A plethora of individuals with expertise in
culinary techniques vitiate the potable concoction
produced by steeping certain comestibles.
ANS: too many cooks will spoil the broth
15. Eleemosynary deeds have their incipience
intramurally.
16. Cadavers are incapable of yielding any
testimony.
ANS: the dead don’t speak(?)
17. Individuals who make their abode in vitreous
edifices would be advised to refrain from catapulting
petrous projectiles.
ANS: don’t throw rocks in a glass house(?)
18. Neophyte’s serendipity.
ANS: beginner’s luck
19. Exclusive dedication to necessitous chores
without interludes of hedonistic diversion renders him a
hebetudinous fellow.
ANS: all work and no play makes you dumb(?)
20. A revolving lithic conglomerate accumulates no
congeries of a small, green bryophitic plant.
21. The person presenting the ultimate
cachinnation possesses thereby the optimal cachinnation.
22. Abstention from any aleatory undertakings
precludes a potential escalation of a lucrative
nature.
23. Missiles of ligneous or petrous consistency
have the potential of fracturing my osseous structure, but
appellations will eternally remain innocuous.
24. Persons of imbecilic mentality divagate in
parameters which cherubic entities approach with
trepidation.
25. Elementary sartorial techniques initially applied
preclude repetitive similar actions to the square of
3.
26. A feline donning appendage-protecting
accessories apprehends zero petite rodents.
27. Desist from enumerating your fowl prior to their
emergence from the prenatal ovoid structure.
ANS: don’t count your chickens before you hatch the eggs
28. It is practicable to entice an equus caballus to
a reservoir of liquid hydrogen oxide, but coercing him
to imbibe is insuperable.
29. Upon the non-presence of the domestic felis
catus the mus musculi proceed to engage in sportive
capers.
30. Numerous manipulative extremities enable
imperceptable necessitous engagement.
31. A buffoon and his accumulation of legal tender
are expeditiously disunited.
32. Persons indulging in jocundity tardily do so for
the greatest duration.
33. Exigency is the matriarch of ingenious
contrivance.
34. Eschew obfuscation!
October 16th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Hi
Could work only one out
Surveillance should precede any vertical
movement
is
look before u jump
October 16th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Hey
I was only just reading about Websters b’day a few days ago – he apparently created his own dictionary which has the american spellings of the english language. He was all in favour of shortening words, like color instead of colour – so i think he may also be a fan of the current shortenings, although I do love knowing enough words to speak eloquently! Happy Dictionary Day from Australia
Liza
October 16th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
greg! your hot.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I also remember playing scrabble with my dad. hehe. only, I always win over him. someimes, I would even try my best to let him win but when we sum up the scores, i still win. oh well. =)
October 16th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
OVER-SHARE!!!!!!
Just kidding. No i think its great. Another great read is Jospeh Brodsky’s “An Immodest Proposal”. Not a book but an essay, that gives great light onto the subject of the loss of poetry-awareness/appreciation in society. What makes it so great is he wrote that ages ago, yet the “proposal” must stay the same. Poets worldwide unite!
October 16th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
thank u for the information, I’ve just known it
October 16th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Webster is famous in my town Goshen NY has a museum to him, apparently he was from the town, or published the museum there…. either way i took a zillion field trips to whatever building he was important in…
October 16th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
How perfect: I leave my linguistics class and sign on to meebo only to find it’s Dictionary Day! I love a good dictionary.
Great blog
.
October 16th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
when you read a page and you suddenly realize that you don’t know what you’re reading–your mind has kind of gone blank, it’s because you have gone past a word you didn’t understand. we have been teaching our children to just figure it out by the words that are around it–in other words context. This is a major reason why education has declined in the united States. Children do not understand language because they are not taught to understand words by looking them up. To really get a good technology on finding misunderstood words–the vital importance they play in our life’s energy (keeping us out of confusion allows more energy) and knowingness check out Scientology and Applied Scholastics study technology.
October 16th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Totally loved Encyclopedia Brown when I was growing up as well:)
October 16th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Živijo!
(Hello in Slovene)
I loved your post.. somehow I always end up reading them.. and loving them.. as I am a librarian and all I have fascination with words and stories. Both the one from people and the ones that books have in storage.
So Greag thank you for your story..
October 16th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
thanks,its luvly
October 17th, 2008 at 12:01 am
I haved read you blog in my office in China.
In China, we meet the same problem as english.
More and more people can’t wirte beauty chinese word .
Traditional poem and essay can’t be understand in young people.
Much new word come out and elder people can’t know the meaning.
Maybe this is a kind of evolution.
But I like traditional chinese cultur so I write chinese word with calligraphy brushes every weekend though it’s very difficult to write them beatifully.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:03 am
Thanks Greg.
The piece that you wrote is simply inspiring. keep it up!
Kudos to you!
October 17th, 2008 at 2:07 am
I haved read you blog in my office in China.
In China, we meet the same problem as english.
More and more people can’t wirte beauty chinese word .
Traditional poem and essay can’t be understand in young people.
Much new word come out and elder people can’t know the meaning.
Maybe this is a kind of evolution.
But I like traditional chinese cultur so I write chinese word with calligraphy brushes every weekend though it’s very difficult to write them beatifully.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:52 am
Totally Useless Trivia ™
Longest palindrome in the Dutch language:
“Nelli plaatst op ‘n parterretrap ‘n pot staalpillen.”
(translation: Nelli places a jar of placebo’s on a staircase).
And there you go, something you never wanted to know!
October 17th, 2008 at 4:51 am
Just knowin that there’s a Dictionary Day. Nice info!
October 17th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Thank you so much for the informative blog about Dictionary Day. I can still hear my mother saying “look it up in the dictionary”, and I laugh every time I say it to my children because I remember how annoyed I was when I heard it from my mom. But in the end, I realized that she was right, the spelling, and the meaning stuck with me. And like many here, I would end up lost in the pages of the dictionary. And using the internet dictionary sites isn’t always the best option. Apparently you are more likely to remember information if you use as many of your 5 senses as possible. So reading a book, where you see the words on the page, smell the book, feel the pages, and hear the page-turning will have a better chance of letting you recall the information then only using a PC. I never let my children use the internet Dictionary site, I make them use the treasured book I purchased.
Trojan_heero I think I know a few more of your word puzzles:
6. Freedom from incrustations of grime is contiguous to rectitude.
ANS: Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
9. Eschew the implement of correction and vitiate the scion.
ANS: Spare the rod, spoil the child.
10. The temperature of the aqueous content of an unremitting ogled saucepan does not reach 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
ANS: A watched pot never boils.
11. All articles that coruscate with resplendence are not truly auriferous.
ANS. All that glitters is not gold.
20. A revolving lithic conglomerate accumulates no congeries of a small, green bryophitic plant.
ANS: A rolling stone gathers no moss.
21. The person presenting the ultimate cachinnation possesses thereby the optimal cachinnation.
ANS: He who laughs loudest laughs best.
23. Missiles of ligneous or petrous consistency have the potential of fracturing my osseous structure, but appellations will eternally remain innocuous.
ANS: Sticks and Stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.
25. Elementary sartorial techniques initially applied preclude repetitive similar actions to the square of 3.
ANS: A stitch in time saves nine.
28. It is practicable to entice an equus caballus to a reservoir of liquid hydrogen oxide, but coercing him to imbibe is insuperable.
ANS: You can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink.
29. Upon the non-presence of the domestic felis catus the mus musculi proceed to engage in sportivecapers.
ANS: While the cats away, the mice will play.
31. A buffoon and his accumulation of legal tender are expeditiously disunited.
ANS: A fool and his money are soon parted.
33. Exigency is the matriarch of ingenious contrivance.
ANS: Necessity is the mother of all invention
A friend of mine was given a homework assignment every day from her parents. They gave her 10 words that she needed to know the meaning of by the end of the day. The dictionary was her daily companion. Maybe I should try that with my children…
October 20th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Hi, congratulations for your entry, Im learning english (im mexican) and in this proces i have re value the spanish like my original language. Like you, Im very surprised of the big variety of Words in this language. Im 24 and i have to admit that i didn’t know what palindromes meant jajaja but i understood it when I read “Bestiario” wrote by Julio Cortazar and i found palindromes like “salta Lenín el atlas” or “átale demoníaco Caín, o me delata” jajaja i think is a very way of get fun with the words. Greetings and hug. Alina
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:40 am
hiya do i knw u where u frm and what are thesre comment actually 4 and y r people concratulating u for writ a cooment bk and add me on msn please … talk to ya sooon
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:18 pm
GOOD
October 25th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
HEY GREG WHAT ARE YOU DOING
March 10th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
great topic thanks
March 19th, 2009 at 6:12 am
i love rihanna!!