Words

"As my thoughts go beyond the city to the hinterland, a favonian breeze makes relaxation a fait accompli. True, relaxation produces flibertigibbits if left unguarded. But I will resist."

That sentence is simply me usuing the words I have picked up in a "word of the day" e-mail list I signed up for. Hinterland, favonian, fait accompli, and flibertigibbit were my favorites from this past week. Don't tell anyone, but as I start writing again on my dissertation, my goal will be to use the word for the day in what I write that day. That could be tough. "Interregnum" (Wednesday's word) would not be hard because I am writing about kings and queens at times. However, my supervisor may ask why if I use the word "irenic" (a word from last week) to describe an iconoclast, but the task is worth it. I have found that if you force yourself to use new words they will stick with you. Plus, it adds a little "game" to what can be the very monotonous excercise of writing. My plan is to take the word for the day and put it on a post-it note just above my computer. When I am able to use it, I will reward myself by standing and dancing around the room saying the word over and over, then I will compose a poem with the word in it. Then when Krisy and Delaney come home I will sit them down and read the section and ask them to guess which word is the word for the day. We will laugh and laugh. Ok, I probably will not do that last part, but the dance will remain.

Incidently, I just looked at something on Ask.com and discovered that they have a word for the day. Today's word? Liger! Yes, that creature that Napoleon Dynamite draws in the movie. I was very impressed. I'm glad I am not using their words for the day or my dissertation may have a sentence that looks something like this: "The Reformed theology of worship may seem to be the theological equivalent of a liger - a strange but beautiful offspring of strict order and transcendent spirituality." Actually, that's not bad. Of course, my dissertation defense session would probably consist of an uncomorftable explanation of my favorite movie and why I chose to use the word liger (the offspring of a male lion and female tiger). So maybe I'll leave that one out.

Thats all for now.

Tim