Etymology

My mum won a prize at school for spelling the longest word in the English language (this ‘title’ is open to debate). The word was

 floccinaucinihilipilification

and means –  the estimation of something as worthless – 29 letters

Obviously it wasn’t worthless – she got a book for knowing how to spell it! She was a scholarship girl at the grammar school, I’m very proud of her for that amongst many other things. She won other prizes at school, they were all books. I still have some of them, complete with their owner’s plate (there’s probably a better word for this rectangle of paper stuck in the front of a book), and these not only say the book belongs to her but also that she won it and what year she won it in). I suspect although, sadly, I can no longer ask her (or more accurately I could ask her but she can’t answer now, she had dementia) that she valued these books very highly. In the house I grew up in books were precious things that you had to take care of and treat with respect. I still wince when I see the condition of books around my classroom. On the one hand I am pleased they are read. I am very please that one child in particular seems to hoover books up and has a veracious appetite for them. That is a wonderful thing. But the condition of the book makes me shudder. I can often be heard saying ‘use a bookmark, don’t bend the spine’ and other similar phrases. All to no avail 😦 But I digress…

A collegue and I were having a conversation about words at work on Friday. She can remember lots of wonderful words. My poor memory is a real pain sometimes. She taught me at least 3 new words! Fabulous! I can’t remember a single one now 😦 Nevertehelss I shall persevere (I love ‘nevertheless’ – I just don’t get to use it often enough!). On Monday I shall ask her, pen and paper in hand, what they were so I can write them down. And write then down again and again in an attempt to memorise them.

 

All of which leads me nicely to two things :

• rote learning, I’m in two minds on this as I don’t agree with trying to just cram information into young minds without them understanding what they’re learning, but I do recognise the value of, for instance, being able to recall times tables, and,
• books on etymology. I’ve just finished this one. I prefer to listen to audio books but the best way for me to remember content is to read and listen at the same time, so I really like the Kindle facility to have a narrator. 

Finally, my word for the day is…

Lethologica

– the inability to recall the precise word for something