I love words. Words are the basis of communication and without them, I could not enjoy my so-called life as a writer or a logophile. To be a writer means to be able to let others know they aren't alone.
For instance, let me use words to tell you about something I hate, and I know you do, too:
When you're on that 2:40 p.m. bus, and it feels like everyone in the Classes of 2010, '09, '08 and '07 all have a class on East with you, this article will now confirm for you that I, too, detest that bus. With my five feet and one imperceptible but pivotal inch, squeezing my way onto that packed bus is probably one of the most heinous situations I'll find myself in all week (I guess until I see my rugby friends on the weekend), and I hate it every time.
Without words, I would not be able to share this or any of my other takes on the world with you. And sharing stories has certainly become a part of me. Every day, I'm on the lookout for something about Duke either that I love or that drives me nuts. Odd happenings on the quads (I know you've seen squirrels fornicating) drive me to pull out the notepad in my purse with all adrenalized speed to put my thoughts into words before I lose them to the depths of my memory.
But where did my obsession with words come from?
I think I was struck with the etymology bug, as I have named this keen interest in morphemes and phonemes, when I was in sixth grade. My English teacher Mrs. Reynolds was adamant about having us be able to speak and read above grade level. She would read from this book (the name of which I have long forgotten; must've not been that great of a word or combination of words) that had cute stories. Each of the stories ended with a large word we should learn. For instance, there was a character named U.B., and he had to go on a work trip. When two associates of his showed up at the train station to find him, they believed they both saw him in different places. At the end, one of the associates exclaimed, "U.B. quit us!"
Get it? Ubiquitous? Haha... yeah...
I can only remember that one story, but I remember liking the book very much. As I got older I found myself reading the dictionary and looking for words that looked weird or impossible to say, and sometimes I would feel as if I had a bad case of logorrhea (weird indeed).
I started looking to the Internet to satiate my hunger for words and knowledge about words. From Dictionary.com's "Word of the Day" to the podcast "Podictionary," I have found more and more ways to learn about words.
Podictionary is a podcast for logophiles (people who love words), and every day a lovely Canadian man by the name of Charles Hodgson gives a humorous etymology of a word. I constantly find myself amused by where words come from and how we use them in everyday language. Podictionary is insanely successful, and even if you aren't a full-blown logophile, you would most certainly enjoy learning the things Hodgson has to share.
And whether on the Internet, in conversation or elsewhere, each time I encounter a word I do not know for certain, or the meaning of which I cannot pick apart, I go straight to the dictionary and try to figure it out.
From how the word kiosk entered the English language (the man said to have introduced it was a bit of a plagiarist), to the fact that profanity literally means 'before the temple' (blasphemous language is as profane as you can get, apparently), words have great histories to them-and let's be honest, you need them to get by.
Hopefully, you'll use a couple of words (and not just four-lettered ones) when trying to shove your way onto that crammed bus.
Keesha Brown is a Trinity sophomore. Her column runs every other Thursday.
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