Cairn Glade

On the Black Mountain trail last week, I delighted in seeing mountain laurel for the first time, sampling some of the season's first wild blueberries, and coming upon this magical glade of cairns. The photo does not do justice to the careful structures there. Reverently, I captured the image and have since reflected on the etymology of the word. Of course, the first source to appear when I search online is Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairn). It does give a detailed history of the word cairn and reinforces the purpose of cairns as markers along trails. But I love the Scottish tradition of carrying a stone from the bottom and adding it to a cairn at the top. As we trek up the peaks in Glacier National Park next week, I might move a stone from the bottom to the top in that way.

Looking at Wikipedia also reminded me of a contested word during a heated game of Quiddler with my mom and sons not long ago. Our family games of Quiddler and Bananagrams get quite competitive and spirited. On this occasion, my middle son wanted to use the word ower. The rest of us protested, asking about its definition. He pulled out his iPod Touch and looked up the word, reporting that it means "a person who owes money." The librarian in me asked, "What is your source?" He told us it was wiktionary.org. Well. We demanded that he check the word in other dictionary sources, and indeed, it was not listed.

Does that mean it will never be an accepted word in the lexicon? Will ower ever be in common dictionaries? It might. But it did not get counted among accepted words in the game...and caused us to discuss again the accuracy of sources and the need for ethical choices when posting information for public use.