Bethump'd with Words

This is a wonderful way to explore where our words came from and to show how alive language is. I was at a seminar recently and the instructor stated that approximately 10,000 words were added to last year's Webster's dictionary. It was a refresher course in grammar and proofreading and many attending were in the business world and just trying to make sure their business communications presented them and their companies in the best light possible.

During the day I was again reminded about the dynamics of the language and how much is not necessarily set in stone. Our language lives in an environment of shifting sand and we have to be lifelong learners to keep up.

This game is one way to do so. It is a great way for people from all generations to come together and celebrate the world of words. In fact, the company states that the game's goal is to "trigger sustained interest in words because English is changing so rapidly that continued literacy is an educational need."

According to the company, Games Magazine has named it a best new word game and it was on a top 10 list from the Chicago Tribune.

Teachers and homeschoolers will find it useful as will those students working to better their chances on the SAT's verbal section.

Some of the categories covered include: borrowed words; idioms; accents; homonyms, homophones, and homographs; spoonerisms; Americanisms, Australianism, Briticisms and Canadianisms; word evolutions; word origins; history and quotations; acronyms and letter words; slang; euphemisms and jargon; holorimic phrases; calques; dinosaur words; eponyms; sexist English; nicknames; and portmanteau words.

Some sample questions from the teens to adult edition:

Accents: What do Australians mean when they make a statement that sounds like: "Scona rine"?

Eponyms: In 1947, what bathing suit did the French name after an atoll in the Marshall Islands because its impact on viewers was that of an atomic bomb?

Portmanteau Words: What word did Lewis coin in 1871 by blending the words chuckle and snort?

Borrowed Words: What common name for peanut did English borrow from the African Bantu language?

History: What famous lexicographer quite seriously lobbied Congress to enforce the spelling of tough as t-u-f and women as w-i-m-m-e-n?

According to Mamopalire, ESL educators around the world find the games very helpful for those who are learning English as a second language.

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