This week I tested editing a word on Wikipedia. As a teacher, precision and accuracy is important to me, so I really felt challenged to think about a topic for which I had real, recent experience. I read alot of material, both online and in hard copy form, so I know much of what I read is biased by the author, and rightfully so. I turned my thoughts to how I am spending my free time this summer, and one immediate thought came to mind: gardening in the NJ woodlands, along the multitude of deer that eat any vegetation.
Thousands of hours of gardening work and landscaping can easily be destroyed by a single deer in one season. Where I live, we have herds, and the mothers with their fawns are the worst of all because the young try to eat anything, including plants and flowers that are considered deer resistant (how is a baby to know?). I found a term called deeroscaping on Wikipedia. The definition is an ophan, meaning it stands alone, but I edited the word anyway, with the hope of developing this word and adding references and external links at a later date.
Since that day, I have been visiting the web, looking for deeroscaping, and to my surprise I see the word being used by others! This could very well be the birth of a new word. So when you discuss deer damage in the landscape, ask people about deeroscaping; it may be a brand new word that you helped teach.
Check out the wiki entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deeroscaping, and if you like, add to it any knowledge you have about keeping deer out of the yard. Perhaps you will be the student that invents a repellent that REALLY works. There sure are a lot of deer, and therefore, a large target market for revenue generation . . . In the meantime, I have to run because I think I see another deer!
Extra Credit: Find a term in Wikipedia and edit it with factual information only. Send me the link, along with an explanation of your edit, so I can review it and give you credit.
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