Galen proposes an interesting question in a world filled with wordsmiths! Have you thought about it before? You know you have! See Galen’s blog here! Take it away Galen!

I like words. Indeed, as a lawyer, I made my living from words.  When I think of my favorite word, however, it is not a legal word.  It is a word, or to be more accurate, a phrase, I learned in a college botany course.  In fact, it is the only thing I retained from the course.  (I was not destined to be a scientist.) Okay, here it is:

Apical meristem.

You might not know what it means. No matter. Just say it out loud a few times. Isn’t that fun? When I say it, I feel like some happy little sprite is dancing in my mouth. The sound of it surrounds my heart with rainbows.

Beyond the sheer delight of the sound, I love the meaning of it, too. (Forgive me, all you botanists out there. I’m going to describe my own understanding of the term.) An apical meristem is the groups of cells at the tip of a plant shoot. These cells are where the plant grows. They push through dirt.  They eat through concrete.  They reach ever upward toward the light.  I like to think of them as filled with meristem mojo. (Mojo is another of my favorite words.)

The downside of having apical meristem as a favorite word is that it’s hard to work into most conversations. That’s okay. It just makes it that much more special.

What is your favorite word or phrase?

photo credit: Aaron Radford