This morning BJ Dude was giving me a run down on the elastic bracelets on his wrist. He had a red, yellow, and blue one. They each had character trait words on them.
He pointed to the blue one first. “I don’t care if the word ‘honesty’ is up or _____.” Pointing to the yellow, he said, “I don’t care which word is up on this one either. But the RED one. I will only leave the word ‘leadership’ up on this one. This other word….Ten…a…..city….is just dumb. Why would they put a word like that on there.”
Quickly glancing over, I noticed the word, “tenacity” printed on it. I quickly said, “sweetheart, the word is ‘tenacity’, not ten-a-city. Tenacity is a good word. It means that someone has the courage and determination to get a job done even if it is difficult.”
By the time we pulled up to school, he said, “Now I don’t care which word the red one is on.”
I told him to look it up in the dictionary when he got to school.
One thing about this kid, I look up more words on dictionary.com than I ever imagined. He wants to know what every word means. Now think about that. Some words you just understand what they mean, but when you have to articulate a definition, it gets a little shaky and your parent credibility waivers. Thank heavens for dictionary.com! It has saved me on more than one occasion. And just so you know, here is the definition for tenacity…..
“The act of being tenacious.” Ok, so look up tenacious…..
Ten-na-cious [tuh-ney-shuh
s]
1. holding fast; characterized by keeping a firm hold (often fol. by of): a tenacious grip on my arm; tenacious of old habits.
2. highly retentive: a tenacious memory.
3. pertinacious, persistent, stubborn, or obstinate.
4. adhesive or sticky; viscous or glutinous
5. holding together; cohesive; not easily pulled asunder; tough.
Aren’t we all increasing our vocabulary better these day? Just keep checking back here for more.