Thebigwordproject.com - Define a Word

The creators of The Big Word Project, Paddy Donnelly and Lee Munroe, want to revamp the way we define words. The Big Word Project lists over two thousand different words (the list is continuously growing) and for the price of one dollar you can associate that specific word with your website or blog. The two creators were interested in different interpretations of words by different individuals, and so the website was created in part to explore and play with the definitions of words. Indeed, some are interesting associations- “brad” is now forever tied to “Bradley Johnson”- but the majority of words either tie to a blog that covers that specific topic, links to the site’s logo, or has some form of relevance (“diesel” links to a company that works with trucks).

“The Big Word Project has been set up by Paddy Donnelly and Lee Munroe, two Masters students from Northern Ireland, who are exploring what different words mean to different people. The project allows you to purchase a word from our list to represent your site. Your site will then represent this word in our list and when people click on it, they will be taken to your site. The project is aimed at changing definitions and creating a new tapestry of words, meaning altogether different things.”

The Big Word Project is an interesting take on defining words- notice how a site that sells knick-knacks can make the jump to “critter.” At the moment it is not corporate or commercialized, so it allows small business owners and blogs to link with a term that might otherwise be taken.

If this concept takes off, what’s keeping other sites from also housing words, also sell them, and make this individual definition meaningless? Moreover, isn’t this site moving away from a democratic definition of terms? Google, which displays results based on click-throughs and relevance is in complete opposition to this site which gives away a word for a price.