Playgroup | Creativity through play

I’m not a great wordsmith but I have a passion for great communication - and the more direct and verbal, the better. There are some rich and useful words in our language, like:

Pulchritudinous - a pretty ugly word that means beautiful

Anatidaephobia, which as we all know is the fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you (although it is not in my condensed version of Collins).

or

thaumaturgy - which is the performance of miracles. Something our clients regularly demand!

I have 5 children so have always been particularly keen on fecundity - the capacity of abundant production.

Then there are the words that are conveniently made up to succinctly describe a more modern phenomena, such as:

Giraffiti, which is vandalism spray-painted very high up.

And of course, there are words that we regularly misuse, such as:

Coffee, which is not actually a popular hot beverage, but a person who is coughed upon.

I’m a pretty average Scrabble player, but hate to lose, especially to my Mother-in-law who normally beats me.

So, I am disappointed and confused to hear the announcement of the millionth word to be formally added to the English language - it is ‘Web 2.0’ 

The main reasons for my disquiet:

• it is not a word
• it is a subject that we have been talking about in our industry for many years, so it is hardly new
• the decision to add it to the English language was made in the US

• and most importantly, it is not achievable in Scrabble, so the Mother-in-Law still has the upper hand!

Hopefully word a million and one will be more useful. Any suggestions?

Posted by Mike on 12 Jun 09, at 2:37 pm

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