Tine

Tine - A slender pointed projecting part; prong, the prongs on a fork.
Our kitchen table was always a place of discussion and words; and my father was a master of the language who delighted in nuance and meaning and choosing the right phrase to accomplish the right purpose. Language was at once science and art. As such many was the mealtime when the lexicon du jour escaped my understanding; therefore in close proximity to the kitchen table, resided the oxford dictionary in its entire splendor. For if a word meaning was beyond me perish the thought that it would be explained or contextualized, it would be accurately defined by searching its definition and etymology right then and there, that is why dictionaries exist. So this particular morning found me cooking an omelet and being instructed to keep my tines parallel to the surface of the pan. Me, oblivious and unthinkingly asked what that meant and was sent to the Oxford for clarification. It was there. Scroll forward several hours that same Saturday and as I turn the page to the beginning of the vocabulary section of the ACT exam and what pray tell was the first question: tine. I owned that test, I knew it was mine. Thanks to a father who loves words.

And so from that day forward, with recognition that my father clearly had something going for him I have pursued words. In college a group of friends and I played a version of the ‘stump the star’ by studying the dictionary and coming to the library testing each others word knowledge by seeing who could bring forth in conversation obscure words that the others in the group could not recognize or define. This was followed by late night scrabble games with my mother at the kitchen table, over a bowl of cereal, after a day at law school and studying. Scrabble was followed by Boggle when it joined the gaming world. More current gaming versions still include Scrabble, unfortunately I am on a losing streak with Parker though my words and connections have been splendid. And of course Quiddler, Quiddler the card game, with Scrabble type attributes that is enjoyed with Grand Parents, SJ & Dale, Rindy and me, and the kids.

Gaming has only been a part of the continuation of the love of words. That same large Oxford dictionary now resides next to our kitchen table, a little worse to wear around the binding. But there are also the word regularly appearing articles that are a source of regular pleasure. Of course there is the bathroom distraction of Word Power from Readers Digest where you can flip back and forth and verify the accuracy of your definitions. More compelling is In a Word by Barbara Wallraff in The Atlantic. I truly enjoy Word Fugitive as well as the general article the last of which defined the average college graduate being familiar with some 75,000 words. www.wordcount.org which is an interactive presentation of the 86,800 most frequently used English words. Test yourself one some recent article from the La Times which included:
Quick Vocab Quiz:
Phantasmagoria
Bucolic
Aesthetic
Soupcon
Diminution
Schadenfreude
Contretemps
Vicissitudes

The answers
Phantasmagoria - A fantastic sequence of haphazardly associative imagery, as seen in dreams or fever.
Bucolic - Of or characteristic of the countryside or its people; rustic.
Aesthetic - The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and expression of beauty, as in the fine arts.
Soupcon - A very small amount; a trace:
Diminution - The act or process of diminishing; a lessening or reduction.
Schadenfreude- Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.
Contretemps- An unforeseen event that disrupts the normal course of things; an inopportune occurrence.
Vicissitudes- A change or variation

And of course my favorite weekly fix from the NY Times, On Language by William Safire; an erudite exposition that normally devolves the etymology of some turn of phrase, for example this week he examines “let’s do this”.

When all is said a done, it is a hearty thank you to my father and mother for introducing me to and welcoming me to the world of words.