Editor/ Publisher

Do you have a favorite word?

I do. As an avid reader, and also a reporter, I appreciate the craftsmanship of the written word.

My affair with literature began early. I have always been an avid reader, often staying up late into the night with my bedside lamp on, nose deep in a Nancy Drew.

I couldn’t help it. I just love a good story. I also needed to know “whodunnit?”

Part of a good story are the words used to tell it. And my favorite word isn’t one you hear every day. In fact, early in our marriage, my husband had never heard the word before.

He asked me where something was, and I told him it was “in the hassock.”

The blank look he gave me was astonishing.

My husband had no clue what a hassock was. I had to explain to him that it was a different word for a footstool or an ottoman.

I believe that was the moment it became my favorite word. Perhaps because it’s unusual enough that even my wordsmith husband was unfamiliar with it.

I can actually trace and explain my unusual affection for the word “hassock.”

We grew up a few blocks from my grandparents, and spent plenty of quality time with them. Grandpa had a favorite hassock in the living room. He would prop his feet up on it and read, do a crossword puzzle, or just pass the time. Perhaps it’s a memorable spot because he also had a hidden stash of butterscotch candy nearby.

For whatever reason, I always remembered the word “hassock” and have always used it.

It wasn’t until my married days that I realized it wasn’t as common of a word as I thought. Come to think of it, I probably didn’t own an ottoman or hassock in college, so I had no roommates to tell me what an oddball word it was.

But I digress. Reading is one of my very favorite past times.

I remember a few years ago, around the first of the year, friends were tallying how many books they had consumed in the past year. I scratched my head as I thought about it.

While many of my friends log their “reads” on a website or app, I’m not nearly that fancy. I had to go digging through my library’s audio book checkout list to reach a “best guess” at my book consumption, which hovered near 80 in that given year.

While I read, I enjoy searching for my favorite word.

There are a few authors who I can count on to regularly use “hassock” in their work, but not many. I’m actually trying to remember if it’s Mary Higgins Clark or Carol Higgins Clark that routinely uses “hassock” in almost every single book.

Anyway, as I’m reading through other authors and series, I always keep an ear out for my favorite word, and when I do, I often dance a little jig. It’s sort of like finding a fourleaf clover, but in the literary sense. I find something that is my favorite, special and meaningful only to me ... and it brings a smile to my face every time.

As I wrote this column, I searched the dictionary for the definition of hassock, and realized that it differs from an ottoman in that an ottoman often has storage inside and a hassock does not.

I learn something new almost every day, and today, I learned something new about my favorite word.

So, what about you? Do you have a favorite word?

Bonar is the editor/publisher of the I-R and can be reached at kbonar@indyrepnews. com.