Confessions of Word Hound

 

"I never made a mistake in grammar but one in my life and as soon as I done it I seen it"

 

Carl Sandburg

It was not until I was well past thirty that I realized I had both a gift and a curse. I was consumed by words. All kinds of words. All sizes of words. I was interested in where words came from and why they were used. In particular, I was interested in why we use so few of the words we have available to us.

It started when I took a vocabulary test to become an officer in the United States Navy. I failed. The strong vocabulary that I thought I had did not hold up to this basic Navy test. Being determined to retake this test and to pass it, I started to read the dictionary. This was hard as 1) it was not very exciting and 2) I felt like a Nerd.

However, after a while, I started to enjoy it. Not only did I enjoy it, but I also started buying additional books on word power, word usage, work derivations and so on. I became obsessed with the signification and application of words. In other words, I became a lexicologist.

Now that I am past sixty, I am still very interested in words. In particular, I am interested in the power of communication by the proper usage of words. However, what still mystifies me is the vast amount of “general usage” words that are unused, and also unlearned. This is very apparent to me in our public school system today, and then even in some of our colleges or universities.

As I still find the search very interesting, I will continue this journey of becoming an aspiring lexicologist. I know this journey will last a lifetime as no person has ever mastered the entire vocabulary. As most explorers believe, I will enjoy the journey and look forward to the next bend in the road.