To illustrate the trickery of English language spacing, let me tell you a story about selling books at midnight at the launch of J.K. Rowling’s 5th book in the Harry Potter series, The Order of the Phoenix.

I was in college at the time, working at a bookstore, and the build-up had been growing for weeks. Pre-orders were organized. Boxes were piled up in the back. Everyone working that night had to don at minimum a cape. The one I was given was purple and sparkly. If you know me, you’ll know that purple sparkly capes are not quite my style, but these are the things we do for the love of books and the love of readers.

At midnight, a massive man, Hagrid--I’m still pretty sure he was the actual Hagrid--rolled up into the strip mall parking lot on a motorcycle. His beard hung low. His hair was wild. His capes and animal skins hung off of him proving his expertise of magical creatures. I might have been as entranced as the no-longer sleepy-eyed children queued up outside the bookshop’s doors.

Books are magic. Books about magic are definitely magic. This one time in my life etched that into my being.

This is the "Words You Should Know" podcast, Season 1: Episode 7.

Words. Language. Communication. Let's do this thing.