Word

Words are like prodigies. They may want to stay inside where it is safe and warm but they'll never live if they never play outside...and find themselves lost in the cold.

Words derive their meaning from the surrounding words, just as human beings derive their meaning from interacting with other humans around them.

The >>Word of the Day<< today over at dictionary.com is >>oblation<<.

>>Oblation<< comes from the past participle form of the Latin verb* >>offerre<< meaning >>to bring<<.

So, an oblation is an offering or a gift.

__________
* A Latin verb is traditionally cited by giving four forms, in this case: offero, offerre, obtuli, oblatum.

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«

Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled.

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«


 – Horace (65-8 B.C.)
 – Epistles, bk. I, epistle xviii, l. 71

Think how much acceptance Mary showed when she said:

»Let it be done to me according to thy word.«

My favourite word in the English language is »language«. However, if you gave me a slightly larger set of words to choose from I might have more difficulty expressing a preference.

Which is more useful to you: a dictionary that tells you how to use a word or a dictionary that tells you how a word is used?

We had words. Each and every evening.

Sometimes, when he stopped for beer after work, we had dishes and pots and food, too.

I bought one of those Word-A-Day calendars to improve my vocabulary for college.

reify – to regard or treat (an abstraction) as if it had concrete or material existence.

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.

(Mark Twain)

The old folks say that the spoken word is the garment of the soul. What man of true wit would clothe his beloved in filth and tatters?

Isn't it weird that words work as well as they do? Think about it.

Rotor is a fine palindrome, thought Frank Leigh Dearie as he ambled down the Lost Highway.

Have you ever noticed that the only difference between »word« and »weird« are the vowels?