One experience I shared with my dad is his “word of the day” thing. Almost everyday, (“ almost” because grandpa was intense but not exactly disciplined.), he would make a conversational statement with a hard word and then ask if I knew what it meant and if I didn’t he would either tell me or off to the dictionary I go. I remember one such statement clearly. “Life is ephemeral”. “Ephemeral” meaning brief… evanescent… fleeting….
So lately when reading books out loud to my newborn son and I find myself concern with the true meaning of words. Come on! Admit it, you have read book and come across words which mean was either foggy to you or you just took a leap of understanding.
It’s a discipline I must cultivate back, I guess.
So the word of last night’s book is “ exsanguination” Go try use that in a game of scrabble why don’t you!
By the way, “exsanguination” means to drain of blood; make bloodless. I have to stop reading murder mysteries to my son. Where is that copy of Winds of the Willow?
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