The Dictionary Project

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AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: Mary French, a subject last fall of a P&C High Profile, makes words her business, too. For seven years, The Dictionary Project she invented has provided tens of thousands of dictionaries to third-graders. She's been in The Wall Street Journal. She's been on ABC news and now she's been honored by the Daughters of the American Revolution with its National Community Service Award. French started this project in Mount Pleasant. She has distributed 680,000 dictionaries to students in 47 states, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. That's a lot of dictionaries. A hearty congratulations and tip of the tongue to Ms. French. For her, here are some... NEW WORDS: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary is GMLC's pick for the hippest dictionary. The 11th edition, which came out last month, includes 10,000 new words. And IT'S ABOUT TIME we assimilated "headbanger," "mosh pit," "dead presidents," "longneck," "oy," "dot-commer," "comb-over," "brewski" and "phat". We also like the additions of "headhunt," "NIMBY," "compadre," "Botox," "fen-phen," "heart-healthy" and "Frankenfood." "Bludge," a Down Under word that means "to goof off" is a good one. "Bootylicious" was added to the dictionary in 2002, thanks to Destiny's Child. But it's so last year, as are "treehugger," "roadrage" and "hottie." Mary French looks over dictionaries with South Carolina third-graders. Instructor Magazine Scholastic, Incorporated March 2003 Page 16 News & Trends A Dictionary for every child Mary French believes that if you give the power of words to students, their minds will soar. Learning new words “makes children feel enlightened,” says French. “They crave words.” The South Carolina mom is trying to satisfy that craving and to empower third-grade students through The Dictionary Project, a nonprofit organization that gives free dictionaries to third-graders in South Carolina. In the six years French has been running the project out of her Charleston, South Carolina, home, she has distributed more than 350,000 dictionaries. Her goal has been to reach every third-grader in South Carolina, every year. Why third grade? French believes that it’s the make-or-break year for children’s literacy. A dictionary must include the words “courteous” and “respect” for French to consider giving it away. About half the dictionaries she’s looked at don’t. She prefers Webster’s Classic Research Library dictionaries. French spends 60 hours a week raising funds to buy new dictionaries. In the past nine months, she has received so much publicity in the national press that she has expanded her project to 42 states. Her goal has grown: she now hopes to reach every third grader in the U.S. What’s the best part of the work? Says French: “We are putting words in the hands of children.” Copyright 2003 by Scholastic, Incorporated Used by permission Dictionary Lady Publishes Her Own School Word List By Brenda Rindge Charleston Post & Courier staff Give a child a dictionary and he'll start looking up words.Chances are, the first thing he'll check out will be expletives, but at least he'll be using the dictionary.

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