#826 Zigzag

Most writers I know like to set challenges for themselves. How much they can write in a day perhaps, or alternate attempts at alliteration.
The test of writing is a joy in itself, but it’s made more enjoyable by having a little variety. The missionary position is okay, but every now and then, it’s fun to try a different, um, prayer.
So it is that for the last umpty-umpth number of essays, I have used a different letter of the alphabet as the first letter in the titles of the essays written for each month.
It helps increase my vocabulary. Also, it challenges me to contort whatever essay I’m writing to fit a word that has to start with a certain letter. It hasn’t always been easy.
The month when I used the letter “X” required that I make up a lot of words. Or at least drop the “E” from words that began with the sound “X”, such as exercise or extreme.
This last month I’ve been using the letter “Z”. It, too, has been a challenge. But it has been rewarding as well. I feel as if I’m totally prepared for the next time I play a game of scrabble.
I’ve learned words like zax, which is a tool used by slate roofers and word with an incredibly high scrabble score. I’ve also learned the word zarf, which I was able to apply to the finger-protecting sleeve thingy we put on paper cups of hot coffee.
And now I am about to use the word zigzag, which if you had asked me previously, I would have said was either a nonsense word or two words used to describe cigarette rolling papers favored by folks to whom zigzagging after a few puffs was an imminent prospect.
Oh sure, I have countless times talked about people zigzagging through traffic. Or a drunk having zigzagged down the sidewalk on his way to barf behind the dumpster.
However, I always assumed it was a slang word, like kitty-corner or foofy or whoopsy-do.
But no, it’s in the dictionary and it starts with “Z”.
And for this essay, that’s good enough for me.
America, ya gotta love it.