I heard someone use the word kerfuffle this week, and that reminded me of a game of sorts that we used to play at dinner. Ryan bought an old dictionary at a rummage sale because he wanted to have "big books" in his bookcase and not just picture and chapter books. One evening at dinner he asked what defenestrate meant, and we told him to look it up. He brought his dictionary down to the kitchen, looked up the word, put it on top of the microwave when he was done, and it's lived there ever since, for easy access during dinner. "I'm going to defenestrate you!" became the new threat between Ryan and Justin for a while. Yes, they were still fighting, but learning new vocabulary while they did it.
For many years, our dinnertime conversation included trying to stump each other with words we had heard or read, and sometimes we just ended up paging through the dictionary looking for good words. I thought it was educational for the kids, but it was really just fun, and I learned plenty myself.
Three of our favorite words:
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I never heard of ubiquitous and ineffable before. I also had to look up kerfuffle (love that one!) and defenestrate. Copious I knew, because we have a similar word with similar meaning in Dutch (copieus). Thanks for introducing me to new words ;-)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this, Bonny! Tom and I look up words all the time . . . still. We keep a dictionary handy, but find that we use our phones more and more to look up words (and to make sure we're using the correctly) on the fly. Your home-usage of 'ineffable' is brilliant. I think I'll start using that one myself. XO
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I just heard that the word nonplussed is a word that is misunderstood
ReplyDeletehttps://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/nonplussed
Oh this is so great! Fletch and I are always looking up words (on the phone or in the dictionary). I had never heard of ineffable before, but I am going to start using it immediately!! Colin went through a period of time where he was always reading the dictionary (no wonder he majored in linguistics and literature). They really are fun books.
ReplyDeleteHaha. "Ineffable," as in squirrels & such, seems the ULTIMATE "F," or rather as if they are so BEYOND "F"... that it's IN-"F"-ABLE!!
ReplyDeleteI think it's absolutely perfect. ;)
Oh, I will definitely be using ineffable now! Maybe it will help me stop using bad words when things break. The ability to look up words instantaneously is one reason why I love my Kindle. Instant dictionary gratification! My husband bought me a HUGE dictionary for a birthday present once. He knows me well.
ReplyDeleteA HUGE dictionary sounds like a wonderful gift! John's grandmother had a really big one with parchment-thin pages on a stand in her living room and I was enthralled by it. We've always used our old dictionary, even though it's copyright 1979 and missing some important words. Even though John and I don't play word games at the dinner table as often as we did when the boys were home, I just can't get rid of ours; we've had so much fun with it!
DeleteOmgosh. I am laughing at ineffable! Genius! And, my question is this... doesn't every household have a dictionary handy for evening meal conversations?
ReplyDeleteHa! Great post! We were just watching Modern Family last night and Claire was trying to use sanguine correctly. Very funny. My dictionary is a prized possession!
ReplyDeleteNow you KNOW I had to go look up defenestrate, right?????
ReplyDeleteYou aren't the only one!
DeleteI love your usage of ineffable! I'm going to start using that one! I still look words up in the dictionary and I use the feature on my Kindle.
ReplyDeleteWe homeschooled & I led a creative writing group for the kids for quite a while. One of our activities was I'd find strange, hopefully unknown to the kids words in the dictionary & they'd have to use them in a sentence. After they'd shared their sentences, we'd look up the word, find out what it meant and have a good laugh.
ReplyDeleteSuch a great post, Bonny! I still remember learning the word ubiquitous. It was in a sentence about blue jeans and, 40+ years plus, the blue jean is even more ubiquitous! I love my Merriam Webster app!
ReplyDeleteGreat words and a parenting win on growing your kids vocabulary!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great family memory - and great way to grow the vocabulary! I'm sure there are some words that none of you can here without a slight smile or eye twinkle remembering the family fun around it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great game for your family. Even though I have a dictionary app on my phone, I still look up words in my large dictionary because I often find other interesting words nearby on the page. I'd miss them if I was only using the app.
ReplyDeletekerfuffle reminds me of my sister in law who uses that word a lot :) I never heard that word until she uttered it decades ago. Every time I see her she uses it! love your family game and what a smart family :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great place for a dictionary. If I still had kids at home, I'd move on into the kitchen!
ReplyDelete