Nine Years of Vocabulary Additions

I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions – James Mitchener

The Shoebill, Balaeniceps rex, also known as Whalehead, is a very large stork-like bird. It derives its name from its massive shoe-shaped bill.



On the cusp of the New Year, I've included nine years of additions to our vocabulary.  What emotions have you experienced as you bumped into these words?

2000 - The Millennium began. Remember when you wondered if the Y2K would disintegrate all your electronic equipment?  They deciphered two-thirds of the human genome.

2001 - We will never forget the numerals 9 and 11 in all their formations . What good happened for you this year?

2002 - We would hear on and on about  Enron. What else would you do with those letters?

2003 - “Shock and Awe” entered our vocabulary.  What's a better usage? 

2004 - Abu Ghraib, a prison in Baghdad, provided photographs that made us question.  How would you unscramble the letters?

2005 - Star Trek ended after 18 years but would remain in the vocabulary. Laonastidae, the first new family of mammala since 1974 announced.  Check it out.

2006-  Wii added animation and movement for coach potatoes.  Did you play?

2007 - Pixar came out with Ratatouille a cartoon about a rat with culinary talents. Did you write about food?

2008 -  November 4, 2008 Barack Obama added to our vocabulary.  What's your write?

2009 -   I'm leaving this open for suggestions.

Creative Write:   As you go through the years, what do these words mean to you?  Play with them and add emotions.

An Armed Patrol of Daisies

'There is no use trying," said Alice, "one can't believe impossible things."

"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age I always did it for half an hour a day. Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
                                      from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis G. Carroll.



Every writer facing the blank screen or white page needs to stretch in that first effort.  Fingers reach and tickle the keys or the hand selects a pen to send words across the page.  Why wait for a notion to arise?  Ideas sprout when we jump right in.

Ellen Gilchrist feels every writer faces two questions when she begins to write: can it be done and can I do it?  She believes those questions precede all risk-taking.  

I suggest - Why ask those questions at all?  They get in the way of the adventure that awaits!

Imagine an Armed Patrol of blue daisies protecting your writing skills, encouraging creativity and word flow.  Now, there's nothing to fear.  Write in and out of an image that feels perplexing. 

If the daisies begin to twirl and whirl off their stems, they will arrange themselves at your writing pad or keyboard.  Each settles right in, does a dance or jabbers with a smile and provides whispers and mysteries.  Will you follow along?

Creative Write: Consider the photograph above. Write for fifteen minutes about impossible things.

21 Questions

Do you need a map or a nap? 

Is today a "dip" day where  the energy of wings or fleet feet  would help?





To push beyond your ennui, try a list of pairs.  Ask a question. See what happens when you pair two items. 

Just permit free association to take over and don't judge or edit.  Go as fast as you can and let your inspiration take you away.  Move until you have hit number 21.

Here's a start:

What do I need -

1     frosting or the cake
2     leaves or stays
3     trinkets or trades
4     bows or whens
5     bravery or a kite
6     milk or pencils
7     magic or  mocha
8     salmon or a scream
9     tirades or tennis balls
10   singing or flames
11   doilies or disgrace
12   monkeyshines or darkness
13   fright or sherbert
14   bubbles or incubation
15   spindrift or tin foil
16   honey or pintos
17   radiance or a gum drop
18   clutter or a stun gun
19   meringue or perpetuity
20   bongo drums or a secret
21   yogurt or merriment

Then begin again with another question. Break away from ordinary with the questions also. Try rhyming.

What happens at twilight -

l       bluebirds or howling
2      thirst or the worst
3      blood or floods
4      maybes or fleas
5      locks or kiddie blocks
6      freedom or kingdom
7      icicles or tricycles
8      harmony or charm
9      ridicules or barnacles
10    moonsbunnies or  funny money
11    highways or one act plays
12    nickles or pickles
13    clay pots or knots
14    crowds or clouds
15    soup or droop
16    arrangements or endangerments
17    puddles or cuddles
18    rice or thrice
19    playmates or paperweights
20    mushrooms or classrooms
21    free will or a duck's bill

Creative Write:  Try several questions for your 21 pairs. What does Friday sound like?  Then try a freewrite mixing all the words.