Word Play

At Toastmasters meetings, we usually have a “Word of the Day.” The word is introduced at the beginning of the meeting and everyone at the meeting is challenged to use the word whenever they get up to speak.

Recently, the word was “swivet.” I like to think I have a good vocabulary, but I’d never heard this word before. We were given the definition of the word and it was used in a sentence so we all knew how to use the word correctly. At the end of the meeting, the person who’d given us the word of the day said that we’d used the word “swivet” 15 times during the two hour meeting.

I was impressed. People who had prepared speeches ahead of time figured out a way to incorporate this new word into their speeches, but many others also used the word as they were fulfilling their roles during the meeting.

It got me thinking about playing with words, which I love to do, and also about the fun of playing with words with other people.

Once, when my stepchildren were still in high school, we had a conversation at the breakfast table about our favorite words. Mine’s “balaclava.” I told them I was going to use the word “balaclava” three times that day. They didn’t believe I could do it because it was May and I was seeing patients all day. But you can bet they asked me about it when I saw them that evening! And, no, I didn’t use it three times—but I did use it twice (once in a conversation with a patient about hiking in the White Mountains and once when I mentioned to the women I shared my office with that  the air conditioning was on so high I was going to need a balaclava to get warm!)

Playing with words is a fun way to pass the time or boost our moods, but it also enhances our creativity. If play is essential to creativity, it makes sense that playing with words would be good for a writer’s creativity.

Dr. Stuart Brown, the author of the book Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, has been studying play for years. He says that play is, by definition, purposeless, all-consuming, and fun. Purposeless in the moment, but purposeful as far as our long-term health and well-being. Dr. Brown believes that play is a biological drive as important to our health as sleep or nutrition.

He also states that “we are designed by nature to flourish through play.”

So next time you think you are wasting time playing word games, think again.

How do you like to play with words?

Diane MacKinnon: I’m a mother, life coach, and writer. I’m working on rediscovering what kind of play I love best, aside from playing with my son, who is teaching me a lot about play. I had so many examples of playing with words when I thought about this blog post, but we each have our own favorites. I’d love to hear yours!