As writers, we have a special love for words. All sorts of words. Words that generate all sorts of meanings, colors, shadings, definitions, emotions, and images. If we didn't love words, we probably wouldn't be writers. So it is always exciting to discover new words, unusual words that we can use in our stories and articles.
Thanks to John McCafferty, one of our group's most experienced professional writers, we can now add a whole passel of new and scintillating words to our writing and speaking vocabularies. All we have to do is click on the link listed below and we'll be whisked away to a preview of some of the words that Mirriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition has added to their new collection. Words like:
Acai -- a small, dark purplish fruit from Central and South America
Fan fiction -- stories involving fictional characters that are written up by fans and posted on the Internet
Locovore -- one who eats only foods grown locally
Missalette -- a shortened form of a missal published periodically for congregational use
Webisode -- an episode of a TV show that may or may not be telecast but can be viewed at a Web site
Your homework assigment for this week is to look up the following words and work each of them into at least one conversation every day this week. Piece of cake.
Pharmacogenetics, flash mob, green-collar, reggaeton, shawarma, viog, and naproxen.
We will NOT be grading on a curve. However, all of these words and their definitions can be found on this link. So it is, in effect, an OPEN BOOK QUIZ. This site will also give you the correct audible pronunciation of every word, so you won't have to sound like an illiterate bumpkin every time you use them. The link is:
www.Merriam-Webster.com/info/newwords09.htm.
Good luck on the Quiz!
Posted by
Russ Heitz
www.russheitz.com
