wordy

as an avid reader (i should be since i'm an avid book collector, right?), i frequently come across new and different words.  i'll stop to look them up in the dictionary, even when i'm able to figure out the meaning via the context.  i've done this since i was little, so it must have been a practice that one of my schoolteachers instilled in me early on.  this usually results in some starting and stopping while reading, but i'm glad the habit has stuck.

while most kids my age suffered through spelling and vocabulary, i thrived on it.  language, to me, is fascinating.  it could be because i was exposed to different ones even before i could speak, or it could just be that i find it amazing how we communicate with one another.

one of my first visits to taiwan (that i can remember vividly, anyway) was when i was 12 years old.  i hadn't seen my cousins since we were all babies, so it was one of the first times we'd be able to talk to each other.  my cousins hardly spoke any english, and my sister and i hardly spoke any chinese.  there was alot of pointing and sounding out words, but somehow we got through as if we were speaking our own language.

when my cousins moved to the states, we continued much in the same manner.  throughout the years we all improved, learning from and teaching each other.  and since our house kind of served as the gateway to the u.s. (we had a number of family members stay with us when they first emigrated from overseas), my vocabulary continued to expand, not only in mandarin, but english as well.  (one of my cousins came over at age 16 speaking very limited english. i would sit with him every day to go over words, reading them aloud and teaching him what they meant). 

so anyway, today's word is: portmanteau, which basically is a blend of 2 or more words and meanings to create a new one (i.e. brunch, from breakfast and lunch).  i thought this word was particularly interesting, because i knew and understood the definition of the word before i had ever heard the word itself.

it probably sounds dorky, but i especially love learning words like this.