Who are you contiguous with as you read this? A friend? A family member? A co-worker? A lover? More than one? Lucky you! It’s a nice place to be, close beside someone you care for.

I don’t remember where I first came across our lovely word, contiguous. I have a suspicion that I might have been reading the dictionary. What? Didn’t you ever read a dictionary? For fun? Me, strange? I don’t know about that… just because I read a dictionary? Sorry where was I? Yes, reading the dictionary. It just happened to be at the time when my Dear Husband and I were “courting”. Another old fashioned word.

According to the dictionary, contiguous means things like “near”, “touching”, “close proximity”. I fell in love with the word, even named a teddy bear my DH bought me “Con” for contiguous for hand holding and all those lovely new sensations.

The next time I came across my favourite word was in a completely different context. I was working for a veterinary pathology laboratory, typing along merrily when all of a sudden I was typing my favourite word, describing a tumour and it’s site.

So, what would you prefer to use? Near, tangential, adjacent, abutting, adjoining, juxtaposed, neighbouring or contiguous? It sounds so much better, don’t you agree?