Words

Any new words in here? 

I don’t know about you, but when I hear a new word, one that I am not familiar with, I do two things. One I try to unravel its mystery by taking it apart. Is there a root I can use as a clue, is it of foreign origin, have I heard it before but lazily glossed over it and soon forgot it was ever uttered? Two, given the opportunity - many times these delights of diction come from an audio book - making it both difficult and unsafe to jot them down in my notebook, it takes one or two ‘tells’ before I decide that the time time is at hand to learn the new word. But even then (and this is the second things) I take a stab at, using its context as a clue to ‘toss a defining dart’ at its meaning. Most of the time my tosses end up on the wall. Especially when said word I cannot even pronounce properly or has unnecessary syllables. 

It is with this as backdrop that it happened again yesterday, with a weird twist. As I mentioned earlier in the week I have been absorbing Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings, and ancient (1645) text on the martial arts and in particular swordsmanship. It can be a bit dry and repetitious but it is full of detail and wisdom. Despite finding a treasure trove of audio books at the most recent Library Sale - including Kesey’s Cuckoo’s Nest - I decided to delay the entertainment gratification and listen to 'Rings’ a second time. It is only three discs and less than three total hours. It is well worth the time. However, on this listen I caught a word that was new to me. I remember hearing it the first time and thinking it is most likely something from centuries ago that has fallen out of modern usage. Still it lingered in my mind and I considered if my ‘dart’ was anywhere close to the bulls-eye. Last night I heard it again on the second listen and make a firm mental note to look it up as soon as I next sat at my desk. After all, Google often gives me thousand of choices in nano-seconds of research time so I have no excuse. 

Perhaps some of you also partake of Dictionary.com and their wonderful service called word of the day. They conveniently show up every morning, providing - at no cost - an extraordinary value, and here I get to test myself with new words. I do the drill. Do I know it? Is my definition correct? Have I ever seen it used in print or heard it used in an audio book? Do I like the look of it, the sound of it? I consider how it might incorporated into a future piece. Or is it pretentious, pernicious or pompous? Some words are like that. 

This morning is the first time since yesterday's vow to look-up the word that Musashi was so fond of. I log on and there waiting patiently in my e-mail box, what we used to call a news-feed, is Dictionary.com and their promised word of the day. 

I don’t even need to tell you, right? 

Shilly-shally. Same one. THE word. Out of the 171,476 words in our language, THIS one shows up on THIS day. Math is not my strong suit but I think you will agree that those are some odds against this happening. 

This amazes me as my delighted soul is reassured that the same magic Musashi spoke of in 1645 remains alive and vibrant today. 

Also please be advised that this is the only time I will use it. You should investigate this thoroughly and put it into immediate practice. 

Don’t be shilly-shally.