The word of the day...

...recondite. Yes. I found it in Terry Pratchett's book 'The last continent'. And I didn't have the faintest idea what it meant. So I looked it up. And the first entry in the online dictionary was: abstruse. Well whaddaya know. Who would have thought that? Not me. Because I didn't have the slightest idea what abstruse meant either. So, I read a little more. And what irony, because the definition of recondite turns out to be:

"difficult or impossible for one of ordinary understanding or knowledge to comprehend"

Well, I guess they got that right when they invented that word. I imagine the conversation went something like this:

 J: "Oi George, how are we doing in the word-department? Earth is all created, and there's no sense for the people of ordinary understanding to wait much longer now is there?"
G: "Well Jeff, we're just about finished. But we still have to invent a word for un-understandable."
J:  "Yes. Un-understandable just won't do. It would be way too understandable for one of ordinary understanding."
G: "How does abstruse sound?"
J:  "Well George, I think you're on to something. Still a tongue-twister, but no one of ordinary understanding will grasp the meaning of that."
G: "I don't think one word is enough though."
J:  "You're right, there should be another word. That will boggle the minds of ones of ordinary understanding all right."
J:  "Do you think recondite will do?"
G: "Well, it has a familiar ring to it. But it will do perfectly."
J:  "Great. Well, I guess we're all done then. Let's get the people of ordinary understanding out there and have ourselves a good laugh."

Crouching tiger, hidden talent

So, of course I know my children to be very bright. VERY bright :-) As any mother does. Lucas (2;9 yrs) finds letters and words very interesting, so we've started importing alphabet books from the Netherlands. Now, I thought I would hold off teaching letters to Kwint (9 months) until he could walk. But whaddaya know, the dude already reads! He devours whole books. First, he carefully opens the book with his little fingers. This is followed  by a close scrutiny of the pictures and words. After he approves of the subject of the book (of course not all books are equally interesting), he prudently tastes the sounds of the letters by licking the words on the first page. Then it's off to the next page. What an appetite for learning, eh!

In keeping with today's subject of reading, I can't hold this from y'all:
Lucas: (looking through the pages of the thesis his father wrote) "Dit is onzin, he mama?"