My online nom de blog (I tried to find the French translation for blog, but couldn't…do the French blog? I'm sure they do.) is Wordsmith. An online search for that word states: a fluent and prolific writer, especially one who writes professionally. My paperback edition of The American Heritage Dictionary doesn't even list it. I left my preferred dictionary, The Merriam-Webster's, in my cold storage unit, along with my hard-covered Roget's. I don't even bother with the OED, even though it still is biblical to me. The online M-W defines the word as: a person who works with words; especially: a skillful writer.

I decided many years ago that if I opened a writing business I would name it either Wordsmith or Word's Worth. I know from searching tonight, that many businesses now use the first title. Disheartened, I didn't bother to check the second one. This is my personal history with the word. Have I written prolifically? Yes, all of my life, in one form or another. Am I fluent? In English? I'm still learning (and forgetting) after all of these years. Grammar was never one of my favorite subjects. It was to be endured, I felt. Yet, that's what grammar books are for, I often thought. I left those behind as well. Yes, I do have a degree in it, but that was long ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Have I ever written professionally? Yes, indeed, I have. I was paid to write ad copy, and I was also employed as a technical writer and editor by a medical publishing house. If you think making stainless steel hip replacements to CAT Scanners, not to mention bandaging materials, sound attractive and glamorous is easy, well, then perhaps, you need a brain scan, she said, jokingly Yes, I've even tried my hand at fiction…never got a cent for it, though…nor any of my poetry. Nor am I currently paid to blog. I wish.

Rather late in life, I've discovered that I probably would've made a good critic: television, film, or food. Or just a writer of the same. Having retired, it's too late for that. So, here I am, writing a blog about why I chose the nom de blog of Wordsmith. Am I skillful? I'd like to think so. Am I clever? Not in the definition. Do I love the English language? I've adored most of it all of my life. Do I deserve the title? Perhaps not, but this isn't a business, and I've been using it on other sites as fair warning: I use big words. I try to use them properly, but sometimes, even the best of us fail or get lazy. I try not to word police on any sites, either, but don't mind if someone corrects my faulty usage. Mainly, I communicate with people of all ages and backgrounds in order to meet people on common ground. Sometimes, it's better to ignore misspelling or improper usage if you get the gist of what the person is trying to say, and you're really interested in the person behind the words.

I chose Wordsmith as a tribute to what might've been. As Shakespeare wrote, A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.   Or as Gertrude Stein might've written, A rose is a rose, by any other name by any other name, would smell would smell, as sweet as sweet. Nor would I dare place my writing on either of their levels of achievement. My favorite dead female poet is Emily Dickinson; my favorite dead male poet is William Wordsworth. My favorite living female poet is Nikki Giovanni, and male is Lawrence Ferlinghetti. So, what's in your name?