The working vocabulary of the average 14-year-old has declined in the last 50 years from 25,000 words to 10,000. Language reflects the depth of our human experience. Because we think in words, are we losing the capacity to say what we feel?
Like, whatever.
Define: viridity (vi-RID-i-tee)
I’ll give you three hints …
One:
Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography via Flickr
Two:
Photo by Skitterphoto via Pixabay
Three:
Photo by JensEnemark via Pixabay
Hopefully, we’ll be needing it in our vocabulary before long. (Hopefully spring is eternal:)
viridity
noun: 1. greenness; verdancy; verdure
Winnie Nielsen says: This is a new word to me but I like how it sounds. I was just mentioning how the green pine needles in the photo of the day were so complex and pretty. Now that I read this piece, I can see how the photo is a perfect example of viridity.
Brenda White says: That looks heavenly! Says the Michiganian ☃☕️😉
Krista says: I sure am hoping to have some viridity in my near future. Such beautiful pictures. It makes me feel warm inside just looking at them. When I read the word my guess was it had something to do with green. It reminds me of the word vert. Vert is the French word for green. Good guessing!
Madelyn Shields says: I love the word viridity and intend to use it when ever possible. I loved the pictures with the various shades of bold greens. they move into shades of golden green. Just so fascinating and amazing.
Winnie Nielsen says: I just had this thought. This landscape is what it looks like with Evergreens on vacation! Everything is quiet, restful, and they are enjoying the blue skies and taking needed time off to just “chill” before it is time to soak up all that melting water and start the growth work again. This photo is sort of the perfect advertising brochure for “Evergreen vacation in Idaho”.
First-foot: [furst-foo t] Scot.
noun: the first person to cross the threshold of a house on New Year’s Day.
In Scotland, the first person to enter your house after midnight on New Year’s Eve is called a “first-foot” or “first-footer.” And if that person is tall, dark, and handsome …
well, lucky you … in more ways than one!
Tristan and Isolde with the Potion by John William Waterhouse via Wikimedia Commons
That tall, handsome, dark-haired man is thought to bring you good fortune for the year ahead. And even more good fortune if he knows to bring along a silver coin (good luck); bread (prosperity), salt (good eats), or whiskey (good cheer).
Who was your first-footer? I think my sure-footed tom cat, Jasper Tomkins, was my first-footer.
Winnie Nielsen says: My first-footer was Mr. Bump. He still has a bit of a hitch in his giddy-up from the accident but it doesn’t seem to slow him down or hurt a lot unless he does too much running around in play.
Krista says: Oh lucky me! My husband was the first person to enter my house after midnight and he just so happens to be tall, dark, and handsome. He also happened to be carrying a bag a chips. Does this count for salt? If so, it looks like I’m looking forward to a year of good fortune. I am going to keep this in mind for next year. This time I’ll plan it out and make sure he is carrying all the other items!!
My “first-footer” would have been my hubby . . . after he went out to check the thermometer and then back in. He IS a Scotsman . . tall, pretty handsome, but not so dark. He’s a keeper however!
CJ
Lisa A says: My daughter, coming home from visiting friends.
Neologism [nee-ol-uh-jiz-uhm] is an old term (c. 1790) that means a new one.
Properly defined, it refers to “a newly coined word or expression.”
This, of course, could also be interpreted as noodle-brained nonsense by literature’s most literate logophiles.
But should it?
While we English enthusiasts are quick to note made-up words in the course of conversation,
(“I like to squirgle a little aloe vera gel after brushing my teeth.”)
the fact that we can glean their meaning from context suggests that these words carry the same clout as their established, dictionary-approved counterparts.
“Do not be afraid to make up your own words. English teachers, dictionary publishers, and that uptight guy two cubicles over who always complains about the microwave being dirty, they will all tell you that you can’t. They will bring out the dictionary and show you that the word isn’t there—therefore it doesn’t exist. Don’t fall for this,” urges blogger Andrew Kaufman of The Guardian. “It is easy to forget there was a time before dictionaries, when everything was less defined and words had a little more wiggle room. This kept the English language alive. Dictionaries turned the language from a house that we are all free to renovate into a museum we are only allowed to look at. So go ahead, step over that velvet rope, make up your own words. Remember that somebody, a long time ago, made up every single word in this sentence.”
Liberating perspective, isn’t it?
Building momentum within this mounting rhetorical revolution, lexicographer Erin McKean is reshaping how we interact with language. In her talk from TEDYouth, below, McKean emboldens us to embrace our neologistic urges.
Winnie Nielsen says: My Mac computer doesn’t play well with Safari so I could not see the video. However, I love the idea of making up a new word that fits the circumstance. Sometimes you just need to say something differently to get the point across.
Char says: Just listen to a preschooler – she always finds the perfect word. We were decorating cookies to take to a great-uncle, and my little baker was squeezing dots for eyes on the jack-0-laterns. She had fives eyes on one of them – so he could se more betterer.
Janice Slater says: As a former K-2 teacher, I was introduced to many new and very interesting words that fit ‘at loss for’ the real word situations. Funner was a word I found that I liked to use. Wish had written the made up words down. Unfortunately did not.
Have a good day all.
My family was very word oriented. My stepfather wrote crossword and double anacrostic puzzles. And we played scrabble and various other word games like” Hinky Pinky ” a great deal. My mother was the pass master of making up words, both to “cheat ” at scrabble and also to make life fun. She gave nicknames and silly new names to various everyday things, especially food items as my stepfather was a chef and our world revolved around food. Case in point : we called porkchops, pokchorps. And tomatoes , mottys, things like that.
Life was always fun at our dinner table to be sure. If you could make up words in another language you got extra points in our world.
Krista says: I agree with this idea full-heartedly! As I was reading this post I was recalling many of my “fake” words that I like to use. I believe it’s healthy for us to make up words. Even though we may never see our words end up in the dictionary, it shows that we can use our imagination and can think beyond the limits society has created.
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Bobbi Joseph says: My 11-yr-old granddaughter made up a word for her great uncle. She called him Gruncle Don.
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
Beautiful morning snow scape outside your window at MJF. Don’t you love the richness of green colors in the pine needles?
One of my favorite sounds is a gentle wind rustling pine needles. It’s not like any other sound. Very calming.
Top of the Mornin’ MaryJane! You know, our pine trees grow very tall so I don’t think I have ever heard their pine needles in the wind. We have so many big Live Oak trees in our yard that they are what I hear most. I am going to try and single out our pine trees next time and see if I can hear their “song”.