I Learned a New Word Today

by William Jackson on 2006-04-15

I check my spelling. I look up words. I like dictionaries. Here, have some knowledge:

A tree can be fluorescent, and it can be florescent, and it can be both.

You see, I was spell-checking an email in which I had typed the word “flourescent”. Looking at that word now, one can plainly see how it might have won the Ugliest Word, Ever award.

But I didnʼt realize that when I typed it, so it was misspelt. When I checked the spelling, the ever-diligent spell-checker brought this silly excuse for a word to my attention, and offered a few suggestions.

Two of the suggestions were “fluorescent”, what I thought I wanted to type, and “florescent”, a word I had never seen before. Except in the email to which I was replying. So, maintaining my inquisitive schoolboy charm, I looked up “florescent” and learned a new word.

As a bonus, I discovered that both words fit perfectly well into the sentence I was trying to construct. Or repair, at this point. So I used them both.

Thereʼs no sense discriminating when it comes to those lovely, lovely words.