F.W.W. - Day (continued)

So, as I was saying... on this Friday (first day of vocabulary study) I thought that I would call it FWW-Day instead of Friday. FWW would stand for Fun With Words (pronounced FWA-day)... and I meant it both as sarcasm and as a bit of a hint.

So, on the board, under Friday I wrote FWW-day and in my best Buffalo Bob imitation I said "Hey Kids, what day is it?" Some mumbled softly "Friday", but most just looked on with puzzled indifference.

Then, I answered with as much feigned enthusiasm as I could muster "It's not Friday but FWA -day!"

By then, even the sleepers were awake and almost all of the students shouted, "What's FWW-day?". And I answered in my best carnival barker's voice, "FUN WITH WORDS - day".

Immediately the groans and hoots of derision started. The waves of disgust was so palpable that I thought I saw Gidget surfing one of them. But I laughed as if I mis-heard them and acted as if they were shouting to convey their enthusiasm for word study.

As I was writing the word elements of the new vocabulary word NONCHALANCE, a student raised his hand and asked if there was a word for "not caring" was there actually a word CHALANCE meaning caring. Well, I wasn't sure, and I told them that. But I also hazarded a guess that perhaps, at one time, there had been a word like that and that it was now obsolete or archaic. I reminded the students that language and words are dynamic entities whose usage lives or dies, waxes or wanes, or changes through passages of time and place. The students seemed satisfied with that answer.

And then, another student asked me for an example of words that change and I mentioned that in Shakespeare's time the word "NICE" was considered an insult and a naughty word.

And that of course prompted the question the question/response, "What exactly were naughty words?" Now of course, the classroom was riveted on every word.