Warding off Alzheimer's

I heard somewhere that learning new words on a regular basis is good exercise for your brain. Good enough to help in fighting off Alzheimer's and other mind issues. Learning new vocabulary -- including new languages -- is a good way to make your mind stronger and more resilient. Another nice addition to that, I have found, is people tend to think you're more intelligent when you use big words (even when you're not). :) That probably makes some of you question whether I really am as intelligent as you originally thought, or if it is just my vocabulary talking, doesn't it? You may never know!

When I was a senior in high school, we had to write our senior wills. I thought it would be funny to put really big words in it, so I looked up a few. My first line read something like this: "I, Laura S -----, being of somnolent body, exiguous mind and incredibly expatiated vocabulary, do hereby bequeath the following to the following ...."

Yes, I would have thought I was a nerd too, if I hadn't fit in so well with the athletic crowd. According to Dave Ramsey's classifications, I would be a free spirit instead of a nerd. You are welcome to draw your own conclusions. ;)

Anyway, in an effort to help you exercise your own mind, I'm going to teach you some new words (I promise they'll be appropriate for class). This is an idea I got from a couple of my friends... Sense & Sensibility and The Potter and the Clay, so you can blame them.

We'll start with:

expatiate: (verb) to expand or enlarge

In order for you to really learn this word, it is critical you put it into your working vocabulary by USING it regularly... in your speech, in your writing, in your thoughts, etc. Things like, "It looks like we are going to need a few more things from the store. I had better expatiate my shopping list." Or "In order to fit everyone at the table for Thanksgiving dinner, I'll have to expatiate the table with the extra leaf." Even better -- "After Thanksgiving dinner, I had to expatiate the waist line of my pants, so I could breathe more easily."

Let your kids hear you use the new word enough they assimilate it into their own working vocabularies or at least know what you mean when you say it. There won't be a test at the end, but it'll be interesting to see how many people start picking up these words.