Two Resources, Plain and Simple by Joylene M. Bailey

What on earth can a person add to the already amazing posts this month? All of them have given me lists of resources to find and try out. But as I’ve thought and thought over what I consider my most valuable resources - the ones I use the most - it comes down to two:

    1.  My thesaurus

    2.  My observations of people, especially children.

My Thesaurus

I am always going to a thesaurus as I write. If I’m in the middle of writing a story, devotional, article, email, or even text, for heaven’s sake, the thesaurus on my smart phone or my laptop, Thesaurus.com, is a quick go-to. But when I’m getting down to the nitty gritty, I pull out my Roget’s Thesaurus.

I LOVE ROGET’S THESAURUS!! I must be some kind of book nerd.

My Observations

I have a scene imprinted on my memory of two giggly nine-year-old girls on a school bus, matching blue turtlenecks pulled up tightly over their heads so far that the empty necks are flopping back and forth on top of their heads while the contours of their faces push through the blue fabric in grimaces and grins.  I was a parent traveling with the class on a field trip, and I knew the instant I saw it that I wanted to use that scene in a book someday. 

You can’t make this stuff up!

My young grandchildren spark children’s stories and songs in me.

And sitting in coffee shops observing strangers gives me lots of writing material.

Hmmm … how would I describe a moustache that looks exactly like that one?

The best thing about these two resources is that they are easy to take with me wherever I go. My thesaurus is on my smart phone, which is usually with me. And whenever I’m around people I’m observing with a writer’s eye.

Two resources, plain and simple. They may not be as intellectual as some of the other resources mentioned this month, but just as stimulating.

And most valuable to me.

All photos courtesy of pixabay.com

Joylene is full of creative stories and songs after hosting her three-year-old grandson for two weeks at her home in Edmonton where she lives with her Cowboy, Babe, and a cat named Calvin. She writes at Scraps of Joy.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - by Glynis Belec

Genesis 11:1

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.

  So do you have it? Are you hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobic? I used to be that way until I armed myself with my trusty thesaurus and my dependable dictionary . Now the fear has settled nicely into cope-ability and intense fascination, thanks to my trusty ebony resource books with the gilt lettering.

     Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - fear of big words.

 

This favourite word of mine is longer than the meaning. When I do a presentation at schools or libraries, I often will use this word to 'attract and hold’ the attention of fidgety five year olds. For some reason, children like arming themselves with a big word or two and then trying it out on teachers or parents or big brothers and sisters.

    Amazing what words are to be found at our fingertips. The thesaurus/dictionary duo can be a perfect friend for word-smiths of any ilk - students, writers, readers...

     Seriously, I love my thesaurus. In fact I love my Roget's Thesaurus so much that I have worn off some of the gold lettering and the spine has come loose. (This is starting to sound a little like the Velveteen Rabbit story.)

     I could never have made it through 26 or so years of writing without my good old writerly companions. I will, when I am in a hurry, use the thesaurus or dictionary in the Word program. They are helpful to a point. Then the same online resources are a mere click away and they can be helpful, too, but as a distractable soul such as me is wont to do, I get side-tracked and before I know it I have clicked link after link and soon find myself  wandering recklessly down online rabbit holes.

     There is something warm and cozy; comforting and calming about my good old dictionary and thesaurus pair.  Sometimes I will just read parts of them and stories begin to form. I get so fascinated with the way words can mean so many things. Much to the chagrin of some of my students, I love playing with words and using the thesaurus and dictionary to try to help them overcome being hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobic.

     When you think about it – a mere 26 letters make up so many words. And the combinations of these words are endless. I tried to look up actually how many words there are in the English language but didn't really find a definitive answer. There are variations of words, then plurals or homonyms or scientific terms, dialect, abbreviations, obsolete words and so on that might or might not make it into the dictionaries. From what I can see from some of the dictionary sites I checked out, the best guestimate on that would be somewhere around three quarters of a million words.. 

    As I have discovered over the years words are not to be feared. I've learned to dig out the resources and remember the power of the written word. Words are magnificent and I am grateful that God blessed us with 26 of them. 

May you and I dare to use magnificent words (big or otherwise) as we string them together for amazing purposes. 

Words...Another reason why God is awesome.