Fun with words

I am a big fan of language, so when I visit Bridging Cultures, we often end up talking about words.

For example, in Pete’s English conversation group we discussed the word thwarted. Pete had prepared a “conversational Tic-Tac-Toe” game in which the participants could practice their English by answering questions. If they were able to answer correctly, using a complete sentence, their team was allowed to put an X or an O on the Tic-Tac-Toe board.

We were surprised when one team put their energy into blocking the other team’s victory, rather than trying to win themselves. This is what made me think of the word thwarted. We wrote it on the chalkboard and discussed the meaning. No one had heard of it before. Afterwards, I polled five native English speakers (adults) and only one of them had heard of the word. That surprised me.

Another time, it was 5 p.m. and two students were lingering in our classroom. Although it was growing dark outside, they were entranced by the magnetic poetry. They giggled and snickered as they chose different words to make silly sentences. Jennifer and I were cleaning up and getting ready to leave, but the students did not want to go.

Finally, I walked over and made my own sentence: Jumping home now. They laughed at my verb choice. Later, I saw them in the subway. I made three small hops (like a frog) as I passed them, but I didn’t say anything.