I am sure you feel badly about many injustices in this world, but have you ever spared a thought for the words that are disappearing from our language each day? The Oxford Dictionaries people have brought us a new opportunity to do something about this tragedy. You can adopt a word and help bring it back into usage. All you have to do is commit to using the word "in conversation and correspondence" as frequently as possible.
Here at the Save the Words site, you can view the many words waiting for adoption, and hear their pitiful little voices begging you to "Pick me!" (Somehow, I would have expected words to be a bit more eloquent, but this is all they seem to be able to manage.)
I am still agonizing over which word to choose; there are so many worthy candidates, such as morsicant (producing the sensation of repeated biting or pricking), buccelation (the act of dividing into small bite-sized portions of food), and epalpabrate (lacking eyebrows). Isn't it hard to understand how these words have fallen out of use?
Go on, you know you want to adopt a word.
1 hour ago
4 comments:
You are quite correct--this vast aggregation of words displays a great paucity of vocabulary!
I adopted siagonology, the study of jawbones. My boss (a mammalogist) was keen to learn this word, because teeth and jawbones are important in studying mammals. So if mammalogists didn't even know the word, no wonder it's in danger of disappearing...
Here's are 2 artist trading cards I made on this word:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cazatoma/3400922766/
Tricia, your trading cards look very cool. I don't understand the concept - do you actually trade them?
Buccelation makes me giggle... I would've thought it referred to something more earthy and rude-sounding.
I should check the site out. It sounds like my brother may be behind it; he after all has often told me to "never use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice."
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