Why Should You Care About National Thesaurus Day?

Our vocabularies are shrinking. National Thesaurus Day is a nice reminder to revisit lesser-used words.

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𝐈'𝐦 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐮𝐞 (𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐲, 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝!) 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐮𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬. As someone who works with words, I often reach for a thesaurus—and I can remember the times when that meant reaching for an actual book! 

𝐅𝐮𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭:  The first English thesaurus is credited to Peter Mark Roget, an English physician and philologist. From 1848 to 1852, he compiled approximately 15,000 words to create the first volume. (1)

𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭: Research has suggested that adult vocabularies are declining. (2) Others have proposed that our vocabularies aren't declining but simply evolving, for instance with tech-related words gaining precedence over words relating to the natural world. (3)

Whatever the reality may be, National Thesaurus Day is a nice little reminder to dust off some of those lesser used synonyms instead of always using the same words over and over. I enjoy sneaking in the occasional 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘢𝘭.

𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧?

(1) The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Peter Mark Roget." https://lnkd.in/dnp94T4z

(2) Jean M. Twenge, W. Keith Campbell, and Ryne A. Sherman, "Declines in vocabulary among American adults within levels of educational attainment, 1974–2016." https://lnkd.in/dcfQb8wW

(3) Kristen Page, The Wonders of Creation: Learning Stewardship from Narnia and Middle-Earth. https://lnkd.in/dXJ2APeY

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NOW that that's done... I'd love to hear from you about this blog post in the comments!