Comments on: Words, words, words

By: Janet Morgenstern

Janet Morgenstern — Thu, 13 May 2010 22:09:27 +0000

I'm not a dictionary aficionado, but I do remember as a kid that every once in a while a common word would strike me in a new way. I would say it out loud, usually several times in different ways, letting it roll over my tongue like a fine wine, then lose myself in the possible ways to use it differently.

The process was immensely entertaining, but the talking to myself part made me entertaining to bullies...

By: Gilbert J. Avila

Gilbert J. Avila — Thu, 13 May 2010 03:19:18 +0000

I love old reference and travel books from 1900 through the 1930's. Also books written by explorers themselves, back when there was still adventure in the world before there were so damned many nationalist and insurgent movements in the world, where you could encounter warlords and bandits. (My father was one of Pancho Villa's bodyguards—the stories he told–!). It's depressing knowing that the setting of "King Solomon's Mines" was the site of a Mau-Mau uprising, and that the temples at Angkor-Wat were damaged by communist artillery. It's a form of defilement.

By: Becca

Becca — Thu, 13 May 2010 01:51:29 +0000

the best word I ever found in the dictionary was "boondoggle."

By: Jessica Nelson

Jessica Nelson — Wed, 12 May 2010 23:05:21 +0000

Not the dictionary, but encyclopedias. One of the reasons Anne of Green Gables was so beloved to me was because she used big words! LOL My heroine.

By: Holly Dodson

Holly Dodson — Wed, 12 May 2010 22:19:29 +0000

I've always read the dictionary for entertainment. Don't tell my old high school friends though. 😉

By: fatcaster

fatcaster — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:41:40 +0000

Dictionary? No. Thesaurus? Every day.

By: Peter Von Brown

Peter Von Brown — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:41:00 +0000

Oh yes. I even had a post about it!
Lost in the Dictionary

By: Kelly Wittmann

Kelly Wittmann — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:40:28 +0000

Yes, the dictionary is always right beside me when I read in bed. And throughout the workday, I am constantly consulting dictionary.com and thesaurus.com. It's an obsession that began at a very early age.

By: DGLM

DGLM — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:16:47 +0000

You're all kindred spirits! Carolyn, thanks for the site suggestion…I think. Wendy, your husband definitely takes it to another level. And, Anonymous, I worked on the Johnsonian Newsletter in graduate school at Columbia and I'm a die-hard Johnson fan.

By: Blee Bonn

Blee Bonn — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:35:53 +0000

I'm not as big on the dictionary as I am with the thesaurus (Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus). I love the my thesaurus.

In fact, I used it so much writing my very first novel, it broke into 3 parts. I still use it sometimes even though it's a little more wieldy to figure out which part has what word.