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THANKS SCRABBLE FOR KEEPING ALIVE ABANDONED WORDS

Photo Credit to Hey Paul studios-Flickr.com

The dictum of a famous architect was "Less is more". I admit to agreeing with that in practically all the spheres of my life except for the use of the mortar and bricks of language: words. I am not critical about the invention of words, I sigh and acknowledge them.

As I am a writer I am all for linguistic creation but I am saddened and disheartened by the massive ignorance of wonderful words that exist and just aren't used.

Worse is the cruel amputation of the shortest of words like "are" and "you" that limp along as "r" and "u" with Facebook and Twitter functioning as prosthetic devices. I contend that creativity in the use of language is not the creation of a new word (most likely originating in Silicon Valley and its colonies) though if it fits, wear it, but in structuring the words that already exist in a vivid and meaningful way.

I have been engaged in a solitary (so far) mission of establishing what I have called "The Home for Abandoned Words".

Of course it is a virtual domicile – I make this statement in case anyone is questioning my sanity. I have noted that many of the words that have been abandoned, piled on a heap of yellowing books that do not attract adoption or at best some of them find a foster home in an academic journal, are multi-syllabic. I remind you to remember the many-syllabled words of magicians and wizards, the long incantations that silenced restless mobs. From medicine men to Merlin, the seemingly endless words were strung into one inseparable utterance, wielding a singsong power over open-mouthed believers.

Today I acknowledge that few who write and speak have rushed to send me words they wish were used more widely. I have stood in the courtyard of many a university and on the street curbs of public libraries waving my homemade banner embroidered with "effulgence", "lambent", "soot", "querulous", "rogue". No one saluted. No one asked my purpose.

Time has passed and finally my effort has been acknowledged and accepted. Yes, someone has come forward and offered to house and care for the forgotten words of our language. I applaud the manufacturers of the word game SCRABBLE who have seen the loneliness of all these words. With no financial benefit in mind they are ready to prepare a place for these words to rest their vowels, their consonants, their syllables for an unlimited space of time.

So, ABRACADABRA, glory to the longest and the best! 

 

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Friday, 29 March 2024

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