a word a day

Today's word from the "a word a day" mailing mightnbe applied to me. Here's the text, followed bynthe address to subscribe:
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

The English language is one big happy family that has something for everyone. It has a word for someone who never laughs (agelast) and a word for one who laughs too much (abderian). It has a word for fear of lightning (astraphobia) and a word for hatred of reason (misology). And in between these words, there are words for almost everything under the sun (and beyond).
This week we'll visit a few terms that make one say, "I didn't know there was a word for that!"

anomia

PRONUNCIATION:
(uh-NOH-mee-uh)
MEANING:
noun: The inability to recall names of people or objects.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin a- (without) + nom (name). Earliest documented use: 1900. Don't confuse the word with anomie.

USAGE:
"In Dad's case of anomia, he's been calling his nightly can of beer 'ink'. Sometimes he calls it 'gas', which makes a kind of sense."

the address to,subscribe is wordsmith.org/awad/

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Many thanks to all who helped make last Friday's event a success. A link to many more pictures is here.

Mary and Sherry

What kind of American English do you speak?
A short quiz which tests how you hear/say vowels as well as your choice of a few expressions. After a dozen questions you are identified by geographic region. I came out "Northern inland," which is not where I've lived for 45+ years, but where I grew up.
If you're interested, take the quiz and post your result here. If you're a francophone, what result did you get? In person, can you hear the difference in accents among us anglophones ?
Mary
Here's the link : Accents quiz

Happy New Year

Friday, January 1 will be a holiday for the WICE French-English Conversation Groups.

The groups will resume on January 4.

Same days, same time, same place.

Happy New Year

See you soon!

Pictures from the Singalong

Brigitte has shared her photos with us. Thanks and remerciements à tous !

Sing Along Was A Success

We were so busy talking, eating and singing that we didn't count how many people attended this year's event. It was a lot of people.

If you attended, we hope you had fun.

We'll try to post some photos in the next few days.

Remember that the groups will continue throughout December and January without interruption.

We will not hold groups on December 25 and January 1.

Photos From The Groups

Mary shot these photos in June before the gouter. I think she's captured the ambience of the groups.

Enjoy the summer. Conversation groups start again on September 15 from 4:30 to 6 PM, same place as last year.

French Pronunciation

Attention Anglophones.

WICE is offering a great new class -- French Pronunciation. It will start in March. It is a great way to polish your language skills and get to the next level of fluency.

Contact the WICE office or look on the WICE website for details.