Context answers these questions:
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Here is some context for collecting words.
Who collects words?
Anyone who can distinguish one word from another by sight, sound or touch collects words. So most of us collect words. But most people don’t think about it that way. Word Collectors are different. They don’t just use words…they treasure them!
What is word collecting?
Word collecting is taking the time to understand a word’s meaning. What does it mean in this context? What other context could the word have? Word Collectors use words, expressions, gestures, and tones to reach understanding.
When should words be collected?
Words should be collected when there is uncertain understanding. When one can understand a word’s meaning by the words used around it, a polite Word Collector will not interrupt a conversation to learn more about a word.
Where words come from matters.
Words can be found everywhere. Like a gardener, Word Collectors tend to the roots. Word origins, or roots, can be complicated. People share words and change words and Word Collectors often explore these paths searching for more meaning for the word. What a word meant when it was first used may not be what it sometimes means now!
Why collect words?
The Earth’s population is more than 7,370,421,000 at the time of this writing. There are 6,912 known languages on Earth. Miscommunications can cause pain and suffering.
Word Collection is a tool for peace.
How to collect words: IDEAS and TOOLS
- Note words you don’t know.
- Look up words you don’t know.
- Ask people to describe the meaning they intended for the word they used.
Pat yourself on the back if your guess was right. Actually, pat yourself on the back if your guess was wrong, too…you just learned something new! ?
Word Collectors are interested in reading multiple definitions for words. The internet is a great place to access multiple definition sources. You can even use a tool like www.onelook.com to show you the online dictionaries that include the word you want to better understand.
Pot Luck Mama’s FAVORITE online English dictionary is Vocabulary.com
Now go forth and collect some words!