Textrovert

Too low vocabulary to say what you mean? No such thing. We can make up words.

The idea to create word from scratch may not sound like our traditional way of learning English - but the power of new words should not be discounted.

I was in for a big surprise when my daughter told me yesterday how the teacher gave them a lesson to craft DIY words. Her class has come up with new words. They are interesting. So interesting, in fact, that I decide to jot down here.

It isn't too difficult to imagine how one can be nervousxcited before joining a summer camp. And I'm sure you know what is meant by impendoom when you sit for an examination unprepared.

One of the most inspiring examples of neologisms from her class, if I am to vote, is the term textrovert. What could be better word than this one to describe those who keep texting instead of face-to-face conversation?

Game

Imagine paying to enter a café with uncomfortable chairs and without Wi-Fi. Why would people line up in the Toronto cold for a table in such unusual café named Snakes & Lattes?

There's nothing special about their food and drinks. The Snakes & Lattes café attracts guests by their board games.

Board games are almost laughably simple, yet endlessly fascinating: half mentally entertaining, half socially interactive experience. Go there and you'll be able to select any game out of the café's roughly 1000 items.

The Canadian journalist David Sax once quipped, "Table gaming creates a unique space apart from the digital world," You can never compare the fun of Scrabble with digital one like World of Warcraft. Think about the more realistic sting of defeat when you sit across from your smiling conqueror. Or the other way round.

Humans want few things more than to connect. And nothing connects people like the genuine feelings of thrill and reward when we play face to face. That brings me to a recent family holiday with good friends of mine, when we had a naughty card game Cheating Moth. The rule of the game allows us to cheat. In brief, we hold our cards above the table and are allowed to cheat one card at a time. 

To be successful, we have to be proper and yet creative. Say, drop a card on the floor or throw it over our shoulder. Or else, put a card up our sleeve. Whatever tricks as long as we aren't caught by the player who holds the Guard Bug card. On another note, we can't be too enthusiastic about cheating away the cards and need to be attentive. Whenever a player plays a Mosquito card, all other players must slap the hand down upon the card. Whoever slaps the card last will end up drawing one card from all the others. And there's more than juggling balls with cheating and Mosquito card. The rules about Cockroach card and Ant card are going to blow your mind.

Funnily enough, cheating, slapping, racing and shouting are the perfect ingredients for a delightful game.