Should we have a con- and pro- pair of Words of the Day at a Toastmasters club meeting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toastmasters club meetings have a role called the Grammarian. As discussed on a page at the Toastmasters International web site, that person keeps track of language and grammar usage. There is an article by Kate McClare on page 13 of the October 2020 issue of Toastmaster magazine titled The Grammarian’s Gift.

 

To improve vocabulary, the Grammarian optionally can introduce a Word of the Day (or Week) for members to use, and keep track of its usage. Another article by Mitch Mirkin on pages 28 and 29 in the July 2015 Toastmaster magazine is titled What’s the Word. A second article by Kalle Lundahl on page 29 in the April 2017 Toastmaster is titled A Word of the Week to the Wise. And a third article by Bill Brown on page 12 in the March 2021 Toastmaster is titled A Word About the Word of the Day. The easySPEAK software for Toastmasters clubs has a web page providing a Word of the Day.

 

At some clubs, like my Pioneer Club in Boise, the role is combined with that of the Ah-Counter and called the Ah Grammarian. That person introduces a word of the day, which is shown on a sheet of paper in front of the lectern.  

 

On April 20, 2018 I blogged about Playing with words: PRO or Con? That post suggested we might broaden to having a pair of potentially opposite words prefixed with pro- and con-. The table shown above lists twelve pairs taken from a list that began by writing down twenty. Those shown in red didn’t make it into dictionaries.