WAURIKA — Over the course of nearly 33 years in this biz, I’ve discovered several truisms, the most important of which may be: If you’ve got an assignment, you can write under all sorts of conditions.

Take Friday, for instance.

I began writing this piece while in the meeting hall of the fair building at Stephens County Fairgrounds. Karen and I were among several hundred folks seeking a warm place and a cup of hot coffee, thanks to an ice storm that will end up as a new weather-related legend in these parts.

It was not the most challenge setting I’ve ever written in, but it was extremely difficult to get focused. As my lovely wife will tell you, when writing a column, I drift into a trace-like state that’s virtually impossible for another human crack. But that wasn’t the case Friday, because I kept being distracted by what was going on around me.

There’s something inspiring and intriguing about watching people react during an emergency, and that was the case at the fairgrounds, where dozens of people engaged in an activity that sets human beings apart from most other species — helping their neighbors during a crisis.

That was also the case in Jefferson County, which ducked the ice storm but folks still came together to help one another when power was lost Friday and Saturday.

Rock on, Jefferson and Stephens folks. Once again, you’ve exemplified one reason I came to the area 24 years ago and never left. People in these parts take care of one another.

But that’s not the theme of this column. We’ll be talking for a long time about the Winter of ’09-10, with it’s double whammy of a snarling blizzard followed by an unforgiving ice storm.

So, let’s talk about something else. Something like ...

The other day I was reading a trade magazine in which a nationally known columnist was referred to as a “master wordsmith.” This set me to wondering: What is a “wordsmith?” It’s a term often heard in the newspaper dodge, but where did it come from and what the heck does it mean?

No doubt, many of you have wondered the same thing.

“Wordsmith” conjures an image of a journalist being compared to a blacksmith, in that, a blacksmith takes a raw piece of iron and shapes it into a horseshoe or plow blade, while a journalist takes raw words and “smiths” them into complete sentences or — if you’re lucky — an entire paragraph.

Thing is: Prior to the 1980s, “wordsmith” didn’t appear in the dictionary. It’s a term some writer somewhere made up

The fact that “wordsmith” has come into common usage is another reason English is both the most functional and frustrating language humanoids have created.

How odd it must be for people from foreign lands to decipher English. Not only do we just pluck words out of thin air, many of our words can be spelled the same way and yet mean completely different things. Got to be frustrating for visitors and immigrants, when they realize English is a crazy language.

I mean, in what other language can a soldier decide to desert his dessert in the desert?

How confusing it must be to someone from Bengali when told that a woman is shedding a tear because she found a tear in her brand new dress.

Does a tourist from China realize there’s no egg in eggplant? Can a Botswanian understand the nuance in the fact that there’s no ham in hamburger; there’s neither pine nor apple in a pineapple; or that farmers may farm, but grocers don’t groc?

Will many Lithuanians embrace a language in which a house can burn up as it burns down, an alarm goes off by going on and you can lead if you’ll get the lead out?

In our lingo, your nose can run and your feet can smell; a vegetarian consumes veggies, but a humanitarian doesn’t consume humans; you can either filet a bass for dinner or strum a bass for entertainment.

Why does it take so long for something to sink in quicksand? Why are boxing rings square? Why is a guinea pig neither from Guinea nor is it a pig?

There’s one goose, but there’s two geese. Then why can there be one moose, but not two meese?

English allows a teacher to subject a student to a new subject. A city dump can be so full it has to refuse more refuse. You can intimate something to your most intimate friends.

People can recite at a play and play at a recital. There’s no time like the present to present a present to a friend.

Why doesn’t Buick rhyme with quick, but quick does rhyme with sick?

And to return to an earlier thought, the Winter of ’09-10 has brought out the best in the human race — which, by the by, isn’t a race at all.