Calling All Wordsmiths!

Words are the most powerful weapons of expression. They can make or mar relationships. So why not celebrate these mighty friends of ours ? October 16 is National Dictionary Day established to commemorate the birthday of Americanlexicographer Noah Webster.

Noah Webster, called the father of the American dictionary, was born on October 16, 1758, in Connecticut. Believing that American students should not have to use British textbooks, he wrote A Grammatical Institute of English Language, which became the main source for spelling and grammar in the United States.

He then began work at the age of 43 on the first American dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English Language, which contained nearly 70,000 words by the time it was completed in 1828. It took him more than 27 years to write it. In this first "American" dictionary, Webster introduced distinctively American words such as "skunk" and "hickory" and "chowder."

........Improve your vocabulary.
Grab a sticky note or a little pad of paper and track, just for one day, how many unfamiliar words you find in your reading. How many words you could look up (but don't) in a day? How many new words could you learn in a year if you did just look up a few unfamiliar words every day?