The bad news: I’m still on the letter C. The good news: I’m almost done! Since my last post I set a goal to finish the letter C by the end of August. Achieving that goal looks very possible now, which gives me a lot of hope. I was ridiculously overconfident at the start of this journey and the letter C has more than punished me for that.After a frustrating stretch of reading two weeks ago, I decided to go through the dictionary and see how long each letter section is. As it turns out, the letter C is the second longest letter section in my MW dictionary. As I expected, S is the longest but I was surprised to find out that P is the third longest letter section. Fortunately for me, the next several letters are somewhat brief.
The letter D and the letter M are 70+ pages but everything in between are all under 65 pages. That means I will get through letter sections faster regardless of my reading pace. It will still take me forever to finish the dictionary but seeing new letters will give me that mental boost I’ve been looking for.
Interesting words:
CONSTRUCTION PAPER- MW traces the word back to 1924, making it 90 years old. I’m not sure if I should think that makes it older or younger than expected. That stuff was such a childhood staple!
CONSUME/CONSUMPTION- The first definition for both words involves destruction. Consume is doing away with something and consumption is a wasting away of the body. Anymore, we would think of either as using something. Technically, using up materials is the same thing as destroying them I suppose. It’s just a darker way of looking at it.
CONTE- I love this word and hope to keep it as part of my personal lexicon. It comes from French and means a short tale of adventure. It’s probably not specific enough to be used as a particular genre of writing. We have short stories and novellas, which probably cover most of what a conte is. Still, I like the term and will keep it in use.
CONTINUING EDUCATION- I worked for the office of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education in college. I could tell you some interesting stories but the real reason I highlight this word is that it’s only been documented for 60 years. Yes, 1954 is the furthest back this term can be tracked to. Maybe it had something to do with the GI Bill after World War II and the Korean War?
CONTRADICTIOUS- It means the same thing as its fellow adjective ‘contradictory.’ My guess is that someone couldn’t find the right word and just made one up. Perhaps enough people used it that it found its way on paper before people realized it was a goof? Still, at 410 years old and no usage notes cautioning against it, maybe it’s still fair game.
CONTRAIL- File this one under the ‘duh, I probably should have guessed that’ category of words. It’s a kind of compound word, combining the term condensation trail. I never thought about or really wondered why they were called contrails but now I know the glaringly obvious answer.
CONTRASTY- It’s a photography term that means a lot of contrast between highlights and shadows. It sounds like the kind of current made-up term people sometimes use when they don’t know the technical term but this word goes back to 1891.
CONUNDRUM- The nerd in me is amused by the fact that this word has an unknown origin. This word lives up to its name, as its origins are a conundrum in their own right! It’s also a very, very old word- MW traces it to 1645.
COOTIE- Ick. This puts a different play on the way kids tease each other with cooties. Body lice anyone? No wonder nobody wants them.
COPACETIC- Anybody remember the band Local H? They’re still around but back in the 90s they had a song called “Bound for the Floor” that a lot of people remember as the ‘copacetic song’ because of the chorus, which said “you just don’t get it, keep it copacetic.” As an added bonus, this word is 95 years old.
COT- Here’s another common word with an interesting origin. The word comes from a Hindi word, which has its own origin from Sanskrit. That’s a long and interesting journey for something as simple as a foldable and usually uncomfortable bed!
COUNTERCOUNTERMEASURE- I understand what this word means but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. There were a lot of words that were simply listed but not defined that begin with ‘counter-‘ but this is one that MW actually gave a definition to? Seeing as they define ‘countermeasure,’ I think we could have figured this one out on our own. Just saying.
COUPLE- If any of you have one of those annoying friends who insist on correcting your use of this word when referring to more than two of anything, I have good news. You can tell that obnoxious nitpicker to stuff it because MW provides the following definition (albeit the fourth entry for the noun usage): an indefinite small number. So there! You’re not wrong.
COWER- It comes from Scandinavian origin. I didn’t see that one coming.
COYOTE- The first pronunciation of this word given by MW, which indicates the most prominent pronunciation, does not include the hard E sound on the end. I have always heard the word pronounced with the E sound at the end, with the silent E being considered an informal or even slang way to refer to the animal. Consider my world turned upside-down! I am now officially torn on how to pronounce this word going forward.
CO- WORDS IN GENERAL- There are 50 pages of words beginning with ‘co-’ in my dictionary. Needless to say, getting through those words alone felt like an accomplishment.
CREDIT CARD- I’m not sure what form a credit card took in 1888, but that’s how far back MW can trace the usage of the word. The credit explosion occurred sometime after World War II when consumer credit expanded t all sorts of people. I wonder what criteria need to be met to score a 19th century credit card.
CREMAINS- I get it. It’s the remains of a cremated person. Doesn’t this word just sound tacky though? Maybe someone in 1947 thought it was clever but it just sounds like a lame phrase.
CRETIN/CRETINISM- The insult form of this word is, frankly, in bad taste now that I know the original definition. It’s a double-whammy of physical and mental abnormalities. To take this debilitating condition and twist into a common insult is just uncalled for. Thankfully, it’s not widely used anymore. One could argue that it should be right up there with the r-word.
CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY- It goes back to 1945, according to MW. I think it’s obvious what led to the coining of this term. It fits for sure but I guess I thought it might have been older.
CRITICAL MASS- Ninety-five years later, has this term hit its name sake?
CRO-MAGNON- I remember learning about Cro-Magnon man in 7th grade history class with Mr. Opilo. I don’t remember learning that they were named after a cave in France. At least the French are good for something, right?
CROP DUSTER- Airplanes have only been around for a little over 100 years now, so it shouldn’t take anyone by surprise that the use of an airplane as a crop duster came somewhat later on. Interestingly enough, the word is 75 years old, making it the same age as some Hollywood classics like The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind.
CROSSWORD- I used to love these puzzles when I was a kid and I could probably get back into them depending on the subject matter of the puzzle. I always preferred the general kind of pop culture puzzles that hit all kinds of subjects. That way you could learn a little once you piece together the hard ones that you couldn’t quite figure out from the clues alone. Anyway, MW traces this word back to 1914. This kind of puzzle maybe older than that but, hey, happy centennial to the word!
Page Count: 316.5/1600 (19.78%)
Countdown to the Letter D: 11.5 pages
