On words, writing, and slightly-slower-than-warp- speed change....

I ran across this quote in the TED talks archives. It's "old" by 2013 timeline standards, but it's still very timely to any of us who talk, write, share and learn from each other.

People say to me, ‘How do I know if a word is real?’ You know, anybody who’s read a children’s book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it. That makes it real.” (Erin McKean)

In our youth, books were the Holy Grail of learning - not the teacher, because he or she was busy with one of the other grades in the multi-grade classroom. A hardcover paper dictionary was standard issue and became our best friend. When I was married, my first major purchase was a Webster's English Dictionary. It's huge, unwieldy, and its spine, like mine, has difficulty holding it all together nowadays. Many currently common words  are missing, but the heft of it still feels lovely. Hopefully, someone in the family will hold on to it as an historic record of the pre-computer, pre-internet era. 
Now if this were circa the pre-indoor plumbing time period, there could be another use for all that paper...