One word I have been especially fond of lately is 'reckon.' Which usually elicits a laugh whether I want it to or not. A perfectly useful and noble term, featured prominently in tomes as lofty as the Bible (as in "Day of Reckoning"), it now seems always to connote a cowboy or a hillbilly, junegrass in teeth, lazily supposing sum'n or other. All I'm saying is: it's a word to be reckoned with.
Which brings me to a somewhat fun party game from NYE, courtesy one of the guest's 8 year-old nephew: What do you think is the word with the most definitions in the English language? Don't cheat, now! I'll give you a hint: the Oxford English Dictionary has well over 300 definitions for this word; dictionary.com has over 100.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Words, Words, Words
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2 comments:
wow now i'll have something to ponder during a day of mostly mindless tasks...
"For" and "to be" jump into mind immediately, but I'm not answering yet...
I reckon I'll get back to you later.
Oh - a little follow up research shows that the word in question actually has well over 400 definitions in the OED. For what it's worth.
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