The Vocabulary Vixen

Michelle and I share a love for words. We love to write them, speak them, dissect them, and even invent them. When we first opened our office together, we had a chalkboard (Michelle loves an old-fashioned chalkboard) on which we listed interesting words. We never really established what the criteria would be to qualify a word to make it to the board, which we should have. Most of the time we are in complete agreement as to the value of a word. But on occasion, one of us will laud the merits while the other is in total disagreement. It's at such times, that we really need some guidelines. We no longer have the board; now we each have a special book of Words to Remember. One would think that we each would feel the freedom to include any word we choose in our books, but we still critique one another's choices. Now I have to say that Michelle did present us with these books as Christmas gifts, but I'm not sure that means she can just override my decision to include a particular word. I did concede to duly note her opposition to the word "scurry." I, for one, like that word when used in the context in which I used it, which I won't go into here, but I will say it described my daughter Lindsey's movement across the racquetball court. I recognize that scurry has neither as many letters or syllables as Michelle's current favorite word "curmudgeon," but it does have its place on the list. And frankly, if she weren't such a curmudgeon, she'd know it.