Party Down! - Celebrate National Dictionary Day on October 16!
How can YOU celebrate National Dictionary Day, you ask? Scrabble easily tops the list for many annotation enthusiasts, but if Scrabble isn't enough to satisfy your pronunciation passion, try the following:
1. Browse my favorite website: www.dictionary.com
2. Find the biggest word in the dictionary and brag to your friends.
3. Take your kids for a trek through the internet's best online picture dictionary.
4. Purchase a National Dictionary Day mug for your thirsty inner nerd.
5. Look up the meaning of "dictionary" in the dictionary.
6. Buy "word of the day" toilet paper.
7. Write a poem using one new word in each line.
8. Check out World Wide Words, an interesting site with fascinating tidbits about the English language.
9. Play a sophisticated game of hangman with your boss.
10. Write about National Dictionary Day in your blog, on your website, or on your forehead to spread the word!
National Dictionary Day isn't complete without learning more about the man who made it all possible. Noah Webster was born in West Hartford, Connecticut in 1758 and he grew up on a small farm. A typical colonial family, his farmer was both farmer and weaver and his mother worked at home. Noah and his two brothers, Charles and Abraham and his two sisters,Mercy and Jerusha, all worked with their parents to keep the farm and home running. Noah entered Yale College in 1774 at only 15 years old, and graduated in 1778 after a break during which he served in the army during the Revolution.
Noah Webster stridently believed the United States of America should actively strive to develop its own cultural independence, which required its own distinctive American language. In 1806 Webster published the first American dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language. He learned 26 languages, traveled to Europe, and researched for many years in order to compose his grand masterpiece, An American Dictionary of the English Language, which contained 70,000 entries, started a new lexicographical standard, and enabled Noah Webster's legacy to live on long past his physical death on May 28, 1843.
Resources
http://www.noahwebsterhouse.org
http://www.m-w.com/info/noah.htm
http://www.educationworld.com
Published by Whitney Glenn
Whitney Glenn is a writer, graduate student, nonprofit executive director, community leader, and lifelong learner, as well as a single homeschooling mother. She lives in Colorado's San Luis Valley with her... View profile
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