(5 minute read)

Question – How did you arrive at letter ‘M’ to create the best description for the Unicorn?

Answer – Lexicography. I performed an exhaustive word search, by scanning 2 major dictionaries:

1) Webster’s New World Dictionary Of The American Language (The Everyday Encyclopedia Edition)

2) Houghton Mifflin’s American Heritage Student’s Dictionary

I don’t own an encyclopedia set.

Question – What were you looking for?

Answer – The alphabet letters that contained the most words, which ‘best’ define & describe the unicorn.

Question – How long did this take you?

Answer – Twas a grueling task that I performed over several months. I had to read every word in both dictionaries, in order to make my list of all the words from A to Z, which could possibly be used. I had both dictionaries laid out side-by-side and opened to the same word, which helped me get through reading the words faster. Because most of the definitions were similar.

This would likely prove laboriously monotonous to most people, because I had to think about each word, while my neck & back hurt from sitting too long. Thus, I had to perform this task early in the morning, after a good night’s sleep, to cover the words quickly. I may have given-up, if not for the wealth of knowledge I gained.

And I’d find myself wandering off down little side roads, into the great beyond of “Word Kingdom.” With so many words in the English language, twas hard to stay on track.

I had my first migraine headache in many years, due to the eye strain from such fine print. This is where a magnifier could have come in handy..

Question – Were there other letters that had as many word matches appropriate for the unicorn?

Answer – There were some close seconds, but I was looking for “best” words, not quantity.

The best alphabetical character letter proved to be the consonant ‘M’. There were some vowel words as well, but none compared to the ‘M’ words.

Once the letter was determined, it came down to the process of word elimination = only 7 M words remaining. So, it was a wrap.

Congrats! Since you read to the end, here’s a bonus?

If you feel lead to do this, you may come up with other alphabetical letter words that you feel are as good. But this effort will need to be fueled by a mother lode of earnest passion for words. Otherwise, you may not make the time, nor effort.

Dictionaries are lexicons, or word books. I didn’t feel this was a waste of my time because I use words to write. One can increase their vocabulary knowledge, or mental lexicon cognition by reading through a dictionary. I discovered words as I went along, that I can use in my stories, books and poems, that I hadn’t thought about before.

If you are a book worm who likes words, you might enjoy a quest through your dictionary. Twill be a good thing, my friend—I wish you luck!

One of my sayings? "Learn to embrace the chaos of life, because my one precious life isn't a rehersal!"