ALPHABETLOVER
December 16, 2009, by Melissa Howden
Melissa Howden shares a special treat for the “word nerd” in all of us.
I am a fan o’ words, an alphabet lover as my friend Lori b has named herself.
I love the history, the roots, the story of words. In my etymological meandering through cyberspace I found http://podictionary.com/
Podictionary puts a word root in your in-box everyday. While I receive my word root in text form the word root can also be heard as an audio word through a daily podcast (subscribe through iTunes). This is a site for word lovers. Charles Hodgson, the brains behind Podictionary, is clever, conversational, informational and contemporary. Take for instance the recent exploration of the word Nike, which, looks to the Greek Goddess of the same name and explores how she came to be more known as a shoe! Taking your etymological trivia and history a bit further, iPhone now has a Podictionary application, which can bring you a month’s worth of episodes for $1.99. Given the history of Podictionary there are 1000 episodes to choose from. I found my daily word habit came in quite handy over a Thanksgiving weekend game of Scrabble!
December 16th, 2009 at 7:18 am
OMG! (what is the etymology of OMG?) This is the site I’ve been waiting for! I currently subscribe to Dictionary.com’s Word of the Day, which is etymology poor and Urban Dictionary.com, which disappoints more often than not. (I mean “pornament?” A pornographic Christmas ornament–how handy. Not.) So podictionary is more like it…my mother, who pulled out a battered dictionary every time we asked her what a word meant and forced us (groaning, of course) to learn where a word came from, would be thrilled. On behalf of my mother, and those among us who are passionate about etymology, (which, as you know, means we suffer over it) thank you!
December 16th, 2009 at 7:45 am
What a nice thing to do. Thanks!
December 16th, 2009 at 8:46 am
I LOVE your blog. This is amazing and I am subscribing to Podictionary right away. My scrabble words are going to skyrocket in the new year! Keep your words coming Melissa!
December 16th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Some girls fall in love with rock stars. I’m coo-coo for Charles–AND, he wrote on our blog. He’s dreamy.
December 16th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Podictionary 114 (earlier this week) was for the word “Swastika”. A long standing mystery has been partially solved for me. I have a very old Native American Rug (Navajo I think) which incorporates that symbol. According to our man Charles the root comes from Sanskrit “Svasti” which means well being. While I don’t know that the Navajo are using the symbol specifically with “well being” in mind, knowing the origination affirms my belief that something along those lines is intended. I now have a different route of investigation to follow. Thanks Charles!
December 16th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Mel, thanks for turning me on to this inbox treat. I’ve been enjoying it ever since I signed up last month. I am a true word nerd, and luckily I am surrounded by many of my ilk. Sharing fun word items is a real turn on. No wonder Conz has a crush on Charles. He IS dreamy!
December 17th, 2009 at 6:57 am
Ditto re: the crush on a man of words. Hey, Charles, do you have any available friends?
December 20th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Ahh, you’ve hit home with this writer/journalist. I have another tip for word nerds and lovers of word games. Though I don’t write poetry, I also find that the exercises in the book “poemcrazy: freeing your life with words” by Susan G. Woolridge are truly inspiring. And good for Scrabble fans!
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:48 am
This site is so much fun. I love words! When you find out where they come from, you can use them in all sorts of different contexts just to make people sit up and listen. Charles Hodgson, you rock.