James Baquet

    Becky is chatting with her classmate Lily in the common room of their dorm.

    Becky: Hey, Lily, did you know last week was Noah Webster’s birthday?

    Lily: Really? I had no idea!

    Becky: Yeah, he was born Oct. 16, 1758.

    Lily: Uh, Becky?

    Becky: Yeah?

    Lily: Who’s Noah Webster?

    Becky: Oh, you! He was the guy that wrote the first American dictionary.

    Lily: Oh, “Webster’s Dictionary.” I’ve heard of that.

    Becky: Actually, there are lots of dictionaries named “Webster’s.”

    Lily: How can that be?

    Becky: The name is no longer under copyright. Anyone can make a dictionary and call it “Webster’s,” but one of the most trusted is called “Merriam-Webster’s.”

    Lily: I see.

    Becky: Anyway, old Noah was the first to put a lot of new words in his dictionary.

    Lily: Like what?

    Becky: A lot of them were American things, like “squash” and “skunk,” things not found in Europe.

    Lily: Got it.

    Becky: He also changed the spelling of lots of other words.

    Lily: Oh, so that’s why British and American English use different spellings!

    Becky: It’s one of the main reasons, yeah. Anyway, I just read an article with lots of words that Webster listed, but that we don’t hear any more.

    Lily: Why not?

    Becky: You know, language changes. But some of them, I think, could still be useful.

    Lily: Like what?

    Becky: Well, how about “babblement?”

    Lily: Is that like “babble?”

    Becky: Yes, it’s a noun form of the verb. It means “useless talk.”

    Lily: Like “let’s stop this babblement and get to work.”

    Becky: Right. We usually use “babbling” in that way, but I like “babblement” better!

    Lily: Me too! What’s another word?

    Becky: I really liked “obambulate.”

    Lily: Like the American president?

    Becky: No! It means “to walk around.” “Ambulate” is part of it, and is sometimes used in modern English. Here’s another one I liked: “uptrain.” It means to train up, or educate.

    Lily: I guess you could do that with lots of two-part verbs. Like “onturn the lights” or “offtake your coat.”

    Becky: Maybe not. Another word I liked is “wranglesome.”

    Lily: What does that mean?

    Becky: To “wrangle” is to argue. So to be “wranglesome” means to be argumentative.

    Lily: Boy, I know a lot of people like that!

    Becky: So do I! Here’s one more: “fopdoodle.”

    Lily: That sounds funny! What is it?

    Becky: Webster called it “an insignificant fellow,” but he said it’s not a very nice word.