In the late 1990s, a friend told me she had used the word “exponentially” in a debate with her brother-in-law. “That’s not a word!” her brother-in-law insisted. “Of course it is,” my friend replied.

I have many pen pals in my line of work and, of course, I quickly developed a running discourse with a guy who calls himself "The Dictionary Man." Ted Utchen of Wheaton would write to me monthly at ...