Writer’s Block

Learning the true meaning of “the long and the short of it”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Carol’s love of words began as a voracious young reader who devoured the entire Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series and all of Ruth Chew’s fantastical witch books. Now her stories and poems for children appear frequently in various children’s magazines. Her picture book for children, Lily in the Loft, illustrated by Regina artist Val Moker, was a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards in 2019. Carol lives in Qualicum Beach, B.C.

One day in spelling class, Megan’s teacher, Mrs. Frill, asked Megan to spell the word big and use it in a sentence. Her classmate Thea couldn’t control herself. “BIG?” Thea said quite loudly, although she really didn’t mean to shout. “Oh my, my, my. I hope you don’t mind me saying that ‘big’ is not much of a word at all. Now if I were you, Mrs. Frill, I would have asked Megan to spell something significant like…gargantuan. Or gigantic. Colossal would have been fine. Even humongous would have been better than a teeny-weeny word like big. We shouldn’t have a fear of big words, after all.”

“Big,” repeated Megan as if Thea hadn’t said anything at all. “B-I-G. Big. Some words are big, some words are small.”

“Thank you, Megan,” said Mrs. Frill. Then she turned to another student. “Terry, can you spell small and use it in a sentence?

Thea tried not to wrinkle her nose, but she just couldn’t help it. “Small? Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. That word is far too simple. I hope you don’t mind me saying that ‘small’ is not much of a word at all. Now if I were you, Mrs. Frill, I would have asked Terry to spell something significant like…minuscule. Or diminutive. Miniature would have been fine. Even puny would have been better than a weak word like small. We shouldn’t have a fear of big words, after all.”

“Small,” repeated Terry as if Thea hadn’t said anything at all. “S-M-A-L-L. Small. Some words are big, some words are small.”

“Thank you, Terry,” said Mrs. Frill. “Now, Dometrio, can you spell mix and use it in a sentence?”

Thea tried to bite her lip, but she couldn’t help it. “Mix? Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. That word is far too simple. I hope you don’t mind me saying that ‘mix’ is not much of a word at all. Now if I were you, Mrs. Frill, I would have asked Dometrio to spell something significant like…amalgamate. Or commingle. Blend would have been fine. Even combine would have been better than a boring word like mix. We shouldn’t have a fear of big words, after all.”

“Mix,” said Dometrio. “M-I-X. Mix. You can mix together words of many sizes to say what you need to say.”

It was now Thea’s turn to spell. Megan put up her hand and asked Mrs. Frill if she could pick the next word.

“What do you think, Thea?” said Mrs. Frill.

“Sure, I can spell anything!” said Thea. “Just make it a good one,” she told Megan.

“Okay,” said Megan. Spell Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia and use it in a sentence.

Thea raised her eyebrows. “Hippopoto… WHATZIT?”

“Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,” Megan repeated.

Thea tried to say the word again, “Hippopotopotopoto….whozzit?”

The classroom became very silent. Thea thought a long, long time.

“Megan, I hope you don’t mind me saying that…that word is such a completely and utterly big word. Why use such a big one when a small one will do? We can mix the size of words we use to say what we need to say. I don’t have a fear of big words, but…” Thea paused. “To tell you the truth, I don’t even know what that word means.”

Megan said, “That very long word means a fear of big words.”

For once, Thea answered with a very small word, an utterly and completely simple word. It was the very best one she could think of to use.

“Oh,” she said. And, this time, Thea was quite happy with the size of it.