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Anu Garg of Woodinville founded Wordsmith.org, an online community devoted to the magic of words.

As far as he can recall, Anu Garg has been fascinated with words.

The Woodinville man was always a voracious reader and early on, he realized that each word in a story has its own story. He says, “Each word has a biography and it tells us about its parents, where it was born, what corners of the world it traveled and the route it took to reach where it is today. It’s so easy to fall in love with words.”

Garg’s passion for language led him to found Wordsmith.org, an online community devoted to the magic of words.

“I started the site while I was in graduate school, studying computer science,” explains Garg. “That’s when the World Wide Web came along. I thought it would be a great medium to share my love of words with other people. At the time, I didn’t have any grand plan in mind. I told my fellow grad students about it. They enjoyed it and told their friends about it and it spread by word of mouth.”

Today, Wordsmith.org has over 600,000 subscribers in 200 countries. Each day, Garg displays a word on the site and gives its definition and etymology, as well as an example of its use within a quote.

He likes to think that the words find him. When he reads, he takes note of interesting terms in newspaper stories or magazine articles. Occasionally, subscribers send him word suggestions and sometimes he looks for unusual words in dictionaries. The words are often thematically organized for the week. The postings inspire many discussions among users and people frequently express their thoughts, questions and comments on the site.

This pleases Garg immensely. He says, “One of the joys of operating Wordsmith.org is getting the feedback. I enjoy hearing how others relate to words. I have found that no matter what we do, or where we live, we can all relate to words. Words are like air. They’re all around us and they are just as important.”

Garg adds, “And one doesn’t have to be in a word-related profession to be able to appreciate words. There are professors and truck drivers, writers and piano tuners, and all other professions in between, who read and I hope enjoy the daily postings.”

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The jacket of Anu Garg’s third book about words.

Over the years, Wordsmith.org has become somewhat of a cyber phenomenon, creating a community of word lovers where like-minded people meet online and explore words and their stories. Students utilize the site to improve their vocabulary and prepare for college entrance exams. And many of those in the workforce like it because it helps improve their written and oral communications.

According to Garg, once people sign up, they usually get hooked. “He comments, “It’s pleasantly addicting. If I happen to be a bit late in posting the word, I usually hear from subscribers who tell me they are suffering withdrawal symptoms. It just shows you the power that words can have to stimulate and excite people.”

Though Garg studied computer science and worked for several corporations, including AT&T, he now devotes himself fulltime to his Web site.

Running Wordsmith.org on the side while having a day job became too much for him and he had to make a decision. He says, “I gave up my career in software for the love of words. Doing what I do now doesn’t feel like work to me because I enjoy it so much.”

In addition to operating the Web site, Garg is also a published author, who has written three books about words: A Word A Day: A Romp through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English (John Wiley & Sons, 2002); Another Word A Day: An All-new Romp through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English (John Wiley & Sons, 2005); and The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words (Plume, 2007).

The first two books he describes as a compilation of interesting, uncommon words presented in dictionary-like entries.

His most recent work is written in story format and details the origins behind more than three hundred words, names and terms.

Every day words, such as “glamour,” which actually is another form of the word “grammar,” (the magical charm sense of the word arose because grammar or learning used to be associated with the occult), as well as words that people may not even realize exist, such as “accismus,” which is defined as feigning lack of interest in something while actually desiring it (the word is from Greek akkismos – coyness or affectation), are included in this etymological story collection.

The words are categorized under entertaining themes that Garg hopes will intrigue word lovers of all ages and devoted philomaths (lovers of learning).

He comments, “I hope readers will enjoy the stories of words in this behind-the-scene tour of the English language. In a larger sense, words show us that we all are connected.”

He explains: “The same root that gave us the Sanskrit word ‘guru,’ for example, also gave us English ‘gravity.’ The common idea here is heaviness. A guru is supposed to be one who is weighty – not in the physical sense – but one who was laden with knowledge and wisdom.”

Garg adds, “I believe anyone who enjoys thinking about the English language, its origins and its words will benefit from this book. And I think all readers will find the stories – all true stories – entertaining and often amusing as well.”

Anu Garg will be speaking at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park on November 17th and at Elliot Bay Book Company on November 21st on the release of his third book, The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words.