On our first dating anniversary (November 21, 1982), my husband (then boyfriend) and I gave each other identical unabridged dictionaries, they’re at least 8 inches thick. At my 40th birthday party, my husband presented me with a current unabridged dictionary with a list of new words not included in our original presents, such as cellphone or carbon footprint. But, for all the limelight given to the new words added to the dictionary each year, others drop out silently and disappear.
Save the Words comes to the rescue of those lonely, excluded-by-the-dictionary-crowd words by putting them up for adoption. The website opens with a screen crowded with words begging for use. I let the site randomly select a word for me and am now responsible for bromography, a systematized and extensive written discourse about food. It will be a tough road ahead because bromography already doesn’t appear in any of my massive dictionaries and it sent my spellchecker into a fit.
Save the Words offers a variety of suggestions for giving my word center stage, my favorites:
- Name my pet bromography, or maybe I sort of did since my dog’s name is Snickers
- Graffiti bromography, on Spago’s front door perhaps?
- Tattoo bromography on my body, I’m guessing somewhere visible to be effective
- Order a customized T-shirt with bromography boldly stated on the front
I think I’ll start with trying to pronounce it correctly. Look for bromography in future posts. Go over to Save the Words to adopt your own word and let us know what it is, we’ll try to use it in future posts.
Claire
Kim
