#98 / New Realities In Words

I love vocabulary, and I have found a simple system to master it. It works like this: when you read a book, if there is a word you don't know, write it down in the front of the book. When you're done with the book, look up every word you didn't know, learn the definition, and write that definition down on a blue index card, and then file the card alphabetically in your own little file cabinet. Check those cards out once in a while, so you don't forget all those great words you've found. The card doesn't actually have to be blue. It just so happens that mine are!

Words create worlds. We might as well have lots of useful tools available, if we want to create a new one.

There is another reason I love vocabulary. I find that I can often discover something "new" about an existing reality by paying strict attention to the words used to describe it. For instance, patriots are willing to "die for their country."

Die for it. Not kill for it!

Check out the difference between what happened in Egypt and what is happening right now in Libya.

There is a difference between being willing to die for freedom, and the willingness to kill other people in its name.