Freedictionary.com defines it as a dealer or expert in foreign exchange.
I know cambist as the winning word of the 1977 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
For some reason (that I don’t know to this day), that Bee and that word both caught my attention. I was 14 at the time, and I memorized "cambist" and its meaning. I vowed to make it a part of my vocabulary, surely to use it when I grew up and traveled the world.
Well, the traveling the world part came true, but though I’ve been to more than a dozen countries over three continents.
And I have yet to hear anyone utter the word cambist.
I remember going to a foreign exchange booth and asking the person there, “Excuse me, are you the cambist?” He hadn’t a clue as to what I meant.
That got me thinking: What good is it to fill your vocabulary with words you never use?
Fast forward to 2017, two years after I left a 30-year career in the newspaper business, when I decided I wanted to pay forward all that I learned about communication and vocabulary. Specifically, I sought to help students who wanted to improve their language skills but could not afford tutoring. And nothing against the word, "cambist," but I wanted to help kids fill their vocabularies with words they could use each day to better express their thoughts, their ideas, and their experiences and their feelings--all while better understanding others' communication.
That's why I launched this site, WordDays.com to help kids improve the four facets of communication: reading, writing, speaking and listening.
WordDays is a language enrichment tool that combines games, music, videos, lessons, trivia, images and slideshows to make learning fun and easy. It helps you make the best use of words you already know and encourages you to learn new words.
I hope you enjoy the site, and feel free to reach out with comments!
