Once in a while AWAD delivery gets delayed and messages start pouring in my
mailbox complaining of withdrawal symptoms. "Words are, of course, the most
powerful drug used by mankind," these words of British writer Joseph Rudyard
Kipling might help explain why many of us get so hooked on words. As time
passes we experience symptoms of mithridatism, the condition of immunity
acquired by taking gradually increased doses of something. Slowly they take
over our lives and we realize we need words with even larger potency, words
that are unusual, esoteric, or even preposterous, to get the same high. Are
you one of those for whom the dictionary might be better characterized as
addictionary? Help is near. Consider this week as an extra high dose of the
fix.