August in National Win With Civility Month. I got this information from the same place I get a lot of my news…Reader’s Digest. Actually, it was part of their August Word Power page (page 45) where you get a list of words and four possible definitions to test your word power.
A month devoted to civility seemed like a good idea to me. I mean, if we can’t have civility ALL the time, at least we could aim for it for one month. I also like that it falls on my birth month.
So I googled it to see what, if anything, others are doing to celebrate. (National Civility Month, that is. Not my birthday!)
So far all I can find is list after list of all of the holidays and designations for August, but not a darn thing about what folks are going to do to observe civility. To be fair, we are competing with Elvis Week, Psychic Week, National Sneak a Zucchini on to your Neighbor’s Porch Night, National Underwear Day, Peach Month, Sea Serpent Day and International Lefthanders Day. I know this because the only listings for National Civility Month are on sites that list…well, infamous holidays.
It is listed on prestigious sites like Dull Men’s Club right under National Napping Month. (That’s another month I’d like to celebrate. In fact, I could easily make the case that there’s a connection between civility and napping.) This site even had an address and a link for more information, but the address was in Las Vegas (that seems an unlikely headquarters for a national civility holiday) and the link www.americanforcivility.com was a dead end.
Brownielocks and the three bears has it listed as one of those “Bizarre, crazy, silly and unknown holidays…we do not make these up” holidays.
The Cantonrep.com (as in Canton, OH) mentioned it in an article along with a host of lesser known and more silly holidays. Who knew there was so much to celebrate between 4th of July and Labor Day!
But no celebrations listed so far.
But back to building our word power in the Reader’s Digest. The words for this month are: procure, dexterous, disparage, malice, revile, culpable, discourse, kindred, digression, obstinate, sublime, countenance and doleful. You may disagree with my assessment – if so, I hope you do so civilly – but by my count, four words are neutral (their impact depends on how you use them) seven words represent the opposite of what is necessary for civility and civil discourse and two are pseudo-positive.
hmm, sure would like to increase my word power with words that actually have to do with being civil!
So, maybe we don’t need a win with civility month event. Maybe we just observe in our every day interactions. Maybe we are just supposed to be a little less of those seven negative words and a little more…polite, communal, social, tolerant, understanding, empathetic, and civil.
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Happy “National Win With Civility Month”
July 31, 2007 by Taylor Willingham
August in National Win With Civility Month. I got this information from the same place I get a lot of my news…Reader’s Digest. Actually, it was part of their August Word Power page (page 45) where you get a list of words and four possible definitions to test your word power.
A month devoted to civility seemed like a good idea to me. I mean, if we can’t have civility ALL the time, at least we could aim for it for one month. I also like that it falls on my birth month.
So I googled it to see what, if anything, others are doing to celebrate. (National Civility Month, that is. Not my birthday!)
So far all I can find is list after list of all of the holidays and designations for August, but not a darn thing about what folks are going to do to observe civility. To be fair, we are competing with Elvis Week, Psychic Week, National Sneak a Zucchini on to your Neighbor’s Porch Night, National Underwear Day, Peach Month, Sea Serpent Day and International Lefthanders Day. I know this because the only listings for National Civility Month are on sites that list…well, infamous holidays.
It is listed on prestigious sites like Dull Men’s Club right under National Napping Month. (That’s another month I’d like to celebrate. In fact, I could easily make the case that there’s a connection between civility and napping.) This site even had an address and a link for more information, but the address was in Las Vegas (that seems an unlikely headquarters for a national civility holiday) and the link www.americanforcivility.com was a dead end.
Brownielocks and the three bears has it listed as one of those “Bizarre, crazy, silly and unknown holidays…we do not make these up” holidays.
The Cantonrep.com (as in Canton, OH) mentioned it in an article along with a host of lesser known and more silly holidays. Who knew there was so much to celebrate between 4th of July and Labor Day!
But no celebrations listed so far.
But back to building our word power in the Reader’s Digest. The words for this month are: procure, dexterous, disparage, malice, revile, culpable, discourse, kindred, digression, obstinate, sublime, countenance and doleful. You may disagree with my assessment – if so, I hope you do so civilly – but by my count, four words are neutral (their impact depends on how you use them) seven words represent the opposite of what is necessary for civility and civil discourse and two are pseudo-positive.
hmm, sure would like to increase my word power with words that actually have to do with being civil!
So, maybe we don’t need a win with civility month event. Maybe we just observe in our every day interactions. Maybe we are just supposed to be a little less of those seven negative words and a little more…polite, communal, social, tolerant, understanding, empathetic, and civil.
Nah, I’d still like to see a celebration!
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