I love words. I love figuring out etymology and the relationships among words. For example, just the other day, I figured out that right in the middle of the French verb entasser (to pile up), a new word for me, is the noun tas (pile), a word I’ve known forever. So now I’ll never forget what entasser means. And when I was just a little Francophile, it always thrilled me when I found out an English word came from French.
I wish I’d had a blog when the clueless conservatives decided to rename french fries to freedom fries. I would have loved to dare them all to eradicate all words of French origin from their vocabularies and then see if they could form a sentence… Morons. Nearly a third of the English language comes from French (or Latin via French).
Today, on a geek blog called Daring Fireball, Vincent saw something about The Big Word Project. It’s the brainchild of Paddy and Lee, two grad students in multidisciplinary design from Northern Ireland. They love words too
Their project allows you to pick an English word and link it to your website or blog. Then, whenever anyone clicks a word on the site, they’re taken to your site. Forever.
(And the words on the home page all look like MagPo magnets, which I also love.)
You pay a dollar a letter. The project is brand new, so there are lots of good words left! Quick! What’s your word?? If it’s in a dictionary, you can use it. They let you suggest words if they’re not there yet.
The guys will be able to have a couple of beers on me. I bought francophile and francophilia. You can guess what those link to. I bought geeks. Love is taken. Leah in Chicago beat me to it.
What’s the point, you ask? Well, who knows? Does it have to have a point? Maybe every now and then if I’m bored I’ll pop in and see who has taken “moribund” or “fallacious” or “calliope” just for kicks. Maybe I’ll stay on the sites long enough to figure out why the people picked the words they did. Maybe I’ll meet some cool people. You never know. I like serendipity (the word and what it represents).
In fact, I think I’ll go and buy serendipity and link it to this blog… What’s another 11 bucks for a couple of starving students with a fun idea? Wish I’d thought of it.
If you’re wondering how many words there are in the English language, give it up. This guy claims he’s counted them all and we’re nearing a million. These guys say baloney. Either way, there are enough.
So go get a word! And tell me what you picked!
Thanks for posting about this. I bought “chic.” I suggested a word that I hope they add—as I need that word. I must have that word. I will let you know if I get it. ;-)
I got it!! My personal mission to redefine the word weasel to a more positive association is one step closer to fulfillment!!!! Merci!
Perfect, chic weasel!!
On the list of words, I cliked “serendipity”. It is a word and a concept I like. I already visited your blog long time ago. But there is so much to read in the whole Internet ! ;-)
PS: There is a *t* in exess (spelling ?) in the URL htt*t*p://www.francophilia.com
Bonjour François. I like serendipity too. My life has taken some wonderful, unexpected twists and turns thanks to serendipity. Did you buy another word from The Big Word Project?
Nice to see you again. Thanks for the tip on the typo in my link!
Sorry I beat you to it, but I decided that by redefining love as my blog, I might open up the intention. I also redefined Jew.
Hey Leah, I didn’t mind a bit. I figured it would be one of the first to go. I’m very happy with serendipity! I think opening up the intention is what the guys had in mind. It’s a great concept. Nice to meet you!