Last year, while I was doing last-minute Christmas shopping at Barnes and Noble I picked up several of the calendars where you tear a page off each day. Colin got a guitar calendar, Erin a Far Side calendar, Kyle a Bush-isms calendar, Alison a dog calendar. And I bought one for myself (they were on clearance, I promise), the "Word a Day" calendar. I know, it sounds really exciting. Actually, I thought it WAS exciting. For the first week in January I tore off a page each day and learned six new words. Then I got behind, and I had to learn three words in a row. Well that was a big hassle, and all for a tear-off calendar. Then I got so far behind that it was useless and so I donated my calendar to Alison for drawing paper. I bought the calendar because I thought it would it expand my vocabulary, which some might argue is a silly idea. I'm not usually at a loss for words, so who needs more of them? I still think it's a good idea. We get lazy when we communicate, and since there are so many rich words in the English language, why not expand the parameters?
So now I have discovered a site where you can enhance your vocabulary skills and feed hungry people. Click on the title of this post and you will be taken there. Warning: it's addictive. For the skeptical (I have lots of skeptical friends) be sure and click on the FAQ when you arrive at the site. You might also want to hop on to Poverty.com, which is the sister site of FreeRice.com. We think we know about poverty, but the truth is that the statistics are almost beyond belief.
So when we see each other, we'll swap fancy words. And if you are like me and you can't usually find a place to use the word in a sentence once you've learned it, at least you will know that you have given someone a meal (that is, IF you've played the game well).
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