Wednesday's Word

Do you remember what you would do a few years ago when you needed to know the definition of a word, see the correct spelling of it and find a suitable synonym? You would turn to a large, fat book! Your family's dictionary (there was always only one large dictionary that was to be used by all, well, that's how it was in our house anyway). When in need of some wisdom, you would visit this source of knowledge, open it up meaningfully and pray that you've landed-up somewhere close to your prize. And of course you haven't, so you then start flipping through the pages while quickly running through the entire alphabet in your head. When you spot the same letter as the first letter of the word you are looking for you start to get excited. From here, you place your finger on the first word on top of the page and strategically slide it downwards while figuring out in your head if 'n' comes before 'm'. After finally finding this word you have been pondering, the right corner of your mouth curls slightly and slowly upwards while you experience an inward gratification that's saying something like: "ek het jou nou jou bliksem" or "I've got you now". This concludes with a loud satisfying shut of the dictionary to which you will return to, to perform the same ritual all over again in due time. 

I always enjoyed doing this and sometimes I wouldn't close the dictionary immediately but carry on exploring and discovering new and interesting words that I have never heard of before. I really miss this, but then I think of a world with no Google and the first onset of withdrawal symptoms start to emerge. But without further ado, Wednesday's Word aims to revisit those feelings you experience after discovering a new word to add to your vocabulary database. Not even to add but just to acknowledge and appreciate specific letters placed next to one another to form a new entity. Next week I will reveal the first word..so, watch this space.