Percolation

I’m busy musing. 

Musing as in “ruminating” or thinking over. And musing - I am basically making up this definition - as in waiting for some sort of Muse to offer me inspiration. I’m coming up with ideas, but they need more time to percolate to see if they have merit and to allow them to gain strength. 

“Percolate” - get it? To filter through something and to brew through percolation to make stronger. 

Isn’t the dictionary a wonderful tool? My musings often lead me to look things up, and then what I look up leads me to new musings. 

I use Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, as I’ve said before. It’s huge, although not as big as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which is truly awesome. If Webster’s Third is too much, the Associated Press Stylebook recommends Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th edition.

Dictionaries help define words, sure, but they also keep us involved in communication. I like knowing that when I use “percolate,” for example, it has more than one meaning that I can play with. It opens up possibilities.

The dictionary’s true playmate is the thesaurus, that wonderful reference tool listing synonyms and antonyms made famous by Roget. Or rather, that made Roget famous, as he was created the first one. You can read more on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roget's_Thesaurus

All thesauruses (or thesaruri; according to Webster’s New World, both versions are acceptable) are not the same, which could be ironic given that they indicate similarities and differences in meaning. Or maybe that’s just me. 

But back to my point - I really like Roget’s Superthesaurus by Marc McCutcheon, which is now in its third edition (2003). It has a “word-find reverse dictionary” which really helps when you aren’t quite sure exactly what you are trying to look up. 

These reference books are good tools for musing. I also like to doodle, but that’s a subject for another day.