Logophiles Unite!

My nerdiness extends down many avenues, side-streets, and dark alleys. I like obscure historical facts, baffling scientific studies, and meaningless trivia. But my greatest love is the study of words.

I write words, read words, study words. I want to know the origins of words and idioms. I want to understand how greater writers than myself put words together. I want to use words to communicate ideas, both urbane and mundane.

And so I, humbly, call myself a logophile.

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The September 2017 issue of Reader's Digest pulls at a logophile's heart strings. The love starts to beat on pages 28-29, with a map of the US (another of my unconventional darlings) and a two-page spread asking people for their favorite word. All right, here's the shout out to Zesty Zabey's former students: extra points on the quiz if you can tell me my favorite word! (Answer revealed below.)

I appreciate one woman's comment. Her favorite word is absolutely, because it paints a picture of determination and enthusiasm. Another woman shared that her favorite word is serendipity, which conveys the idea of open doors. What's your favorite word?

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The issue's main article, "Why It Pays to Increase Your Word Power," fits seamlessly with my recent series on Nicholas Carr's book. (Browse through August's blogs entries to catch up.) Slowly and imperceptibly, the Internet and screen time in general are stealing our words: our love of words, our ability to use words effectively, our cache of words.

The article describes the results of Michigan's Health and Retirement Study, a compilation of years of statistics studied and organized by a group of Yale researchers. The result? After aggregating 12 years of data from surveys completed by 3,600 men and women over age 50, the group from Yale discovered that people who read books of any genre "for as little as 30 minutes a day over several years were living an average of two years longer than people who didn't read anything at all" (Reader's Digest, Sept 2017, p. 68). Apparently, reading as older adults is just as important as reading to young children. Books boost brain power. And only 30 minutes a day! Read to your kids at bed time and then 15 minutes at your own bed time, and you've done it!

Have you ever stopped to consider what reading actually is? Someone, eons ago, drew some shapes with basic lines and circles and partial circles, gave them names, and created a code. We happen to use 26 letters in our code, but the Russians use the Cyrillic alphabet which consists of 33 letters. The code used by Jewish readers reads from right to left. Arabic letters look to the untrained eye like art. But they are all codes.

And when we read, our brain is decoding. The more you do it, the easier it gets, like soldiers or Boy Scouts trained in Morse code or semaphore. As we age, we want our brains to remain active. You don't want your leg muscles to atrophy, so you walk, even if only a little bit, and as someone who is losing mobility, I suggest you do so as much as possible! The same goes for our brains. We need to keep them engaged, with board and card games, new hobbies, puzzles, and books.

(For those wondering what my favorite word is, the answer is ubiquitous, from the Latin root ubi, meaning "where". Ubiquitous means "everywhere." They -- the ubiquitous they -- say reading is absolutely good for you, and finding a new favorite book is a brush with serendipity! )