Debbie Watts ("Word Woman"), author of the new book "Wordabulous!", is providing a positive word of the week. This week's word is "plethora".)
WORDABULOUS, Tenn. -- In my capacity as an instructional coach, I’m privileged to observe many great lessons presented by many talented and creative teachers. Recently, I was in an eighth grade class where the focus was using a more creative vocabulary. As a former eighth grade teacher myself, I have observed over the years that one favorite “wordism” among the eighth grade set is to put the two words “a lot” together to make one word. "A lot" is not a word. “It’s” two words.
While there are many more precise words to express excess, one of my favorites is the word “plethora.” This was the “word of the day” in that talented teacher’s eighth grade class. Pronounced with the accent on the first syllable, it sounds like it might be a title character in a Japanese sci-fi monster flick. Actually it’s from the Greek, meaning fullness. The current definition is “overabundance.” It might refer to tangible items or concepts. A sentence using the word "plethora" might read like this: “There was a plethora of knowledge shared in yesterday’s seminar.”
As I often do with my students, I challenge all my wordy-friends to use that word in a sentence and make a mental note of the response you get from your conversation-ee. Share it with me here or via e-mail at info@Wordabulous.com.
(Apple Dictionary: ORIGIN mid-16th cent. (in the medical sense): via late Latin from Greekplēthōrē, from plēthein ‘be full.’ )
Copyright 2010 (used by permission)
