About OWAD
On this page:
The History of OWAD
OWAD started in April 2000 as a free word-learning service to our clients.
I was looking for a cost-effective way to keep in touch with our German-speaking business friends.
These were mostly ex-participants of English seminars and management training programmes.
As most of our clients are busy professionals needing to communicate internationally, we saw
One-Word-A-Day as being a useful on-the-job learning tool.
A mailing to PSA clients resulted 1,500 OWAD registrations! That gratifying response
encouraged me to develop the concept and to offer the service to anyone who wants it.
Right now we are looking at 145080 subscribers already!
It may interest you that I got the idea for "3 choices" from the popular BBC Radio game "Call my
Bluff" in which teams are given really obscure English words and have to trick each other with really
outrageous definitions.
back to top
How the words are chosen
In selecting the words I am trying to choose words which satisfy two conflicting needs:
- the words should occur in educated British-American conversation - and
- the words should be unknown to most German speakers of English
I try to use quotes from the international press and I make a cross-check against the "World
Bank of English" which contains over 500,000 words and allows me to see if my choice is within the
most frequent 50,000.
back to top
How do I make this selection?
My final selection criterion is my own judgement - I ask myself questions like
Do I know this word? have I heard or read it on several occasions?
Is the word either interesting or useful? Does is represent a useful concept?
Am I likely to use the word myself with British or Americans?
Am I likely to avoid the word with German speakers because it is probably unknown to them?
Occasionally, I also take words which are quite new for me because they represent a new
technology or management concept which looks like becoming "mainstream".
If we take the word "serendipity" - this is a fascinating word which I grant may not be known
by all native speakers of English. Yet it is a word worth learning - you will occasionally read or hear
it. A good test of a word's relevance is to visit Amazon books and see if the word occurs in any
book titles - you can be sure that publishers are very careful about choosing book titles which
readers will understand. You'll find lots of titles containing the word "serendipity".
Regarding word choices in the past - and looking back on the all the I have words given so far - I
do regret a few obscure words which I inserted "just for fun". These days though, I am being quite
careful in my selection. I would ask you to please trust me that the words I offer are useful.
back to top
Can I use these new words in speaking and writing?
Yes! You can use all these words when speaking with or writing to educated Anglo-Saxons, they will
probably be impressed by your English knowledge, but beware,... they may not want to admit that
they don't know the word themselves!
A general warning though: Never use advanced or idiomatic vocabulary with other foreign speakers
of English (e.g. with the French or Japanese).
The first intention of OWAD is to help you understand the British and Americans when they use the
top-end of the language, if you actually use some of these words yourself,... that's a bonus.
back to top
Why I am investing my time in OWAD
and why it is free
Three reasons:
- It's public relations for our training and consulting business
- I enjoy language, it's fun looking for useful words inventing plausible definitions
- It develops my German :)
back to top
|
