prom·ul·gate

[prom–uhl-geyt, proh-muhl-geyt]

–verb (used with object), -gat·ed, -gat·ing.

1.

to make known by open declaration; publish; proclaimformally or put into operation (a law, decree of a court,etc.).

2.

to set forth or teach publicly (a creed, doctrine, etc.).

In case you are wondering why I’m doing a definition on that word it’s quite simple. When I first read that word, I couldn’t pronounce it let alone know what it meant. So I just speed read the word and sort of understood it was something to do with the constitution process that our country was undergoing. Then all of a sudden I was to talk about this process on air and I had to learn to pronounce it properly and know what it meant and I’m not ashamed of saying I had to look up what it meant.

You must hand it to us Kenyans though. When we hear a new word we use it to the maximum and tend to apply it to just about everything in our lives. Take those fancy words that have always been there in our kamusi (Kiswahili Dictionary) but we pay no special attention to them until the mobile phone operators start using them. I must say ‘sambaza’ is my most favourite word to date. I use it with great abandon. I sambaza love to my kids, hatred to my enemies, good vibes to people I love; actually it’s mostly feelings that I sambaza and not money! In case you still don’t know what sambaza means it is a Swahili word meaning to share or distribute something for a common good. Safaricom came up with this term when we could send phone credit to loved ones (also not-so-loved ones) from our handsets and soon the word became a household one.

There was a time I used to look up difficult words and make them my word of the day. I used to be exceedingly good at this until people around me decided they got fed up of hearing my alphabetical words of the day being liberally peppered in conversation the whole day long. Eventually I just got bored of that and would start carrying a mini thesaurus in my bag. I went through yet another phase of looking up words and finding alternate words for them and using them all. Once again, everyone around me went nuts being subjected to this so this too came to an end.

In my home I have books in every room. Rooms without books are like bodies without a soul to me. Even the bathrooms have some sort of reading material. I love to read a lot and I get immensely pleased to note that my children follow these footsteps too. I also know that for their ages they are ahead in the reading levels and I feel really good to hear that from their respective teachers. My daughter also has a trait of mine – she owns a mini thesaurus too and uses it abundantly!

Words are fabulous. I love using different words in my vocabulary – written and spoken – and encourage my kids to do the same. I feel the fine art of speaking and writing well seems to be dying especially when pple hve strtd 2 wrte lyk dat. I simply HATE messages like that and refuse to send out messages in short form. I will allow one to send me a message like that via SMS because of character constraint but if you will send me a message like that on email or Facebook or any other form of written communication I will ignore your message or simply delete it.

And allow this to be my promulgation on the art of writing well….

🙂