Before we get to my Word of the Week, I'd like to address some of the e-mails I've been receiving from my loyal subjects.

Last week I gave you the word "persnickety," and I had you use it in a sentence, e-mail it in, and if someone wrote a proper sentence, he or she would get a Matt Striker tie. Well, I've chosen one, and it happens to be from Mr. Christopher Giordano from New York.

Christopher wrote that he has a friend, "lauren," who is persnickety… oh, no, wait a second. "Lauren" is a proper name. It should have been capitalized. After "persnickety," there should have been a period. You didn't really define the word so, yeah, I'm going to have to go ahead and disqualify you, Christopher. So, the contest continues.

This week's Word of the Week is:

Dictum (dik-tuh m)

Did what to him? No, it's dictum. And again, I can give you the definition, but what kind of teacher would I be? Basically, what I'd like you to do is use it in a sentence, but please define the word in the sentence. Otherwise, it would not be any fun for me.

That is my authoritative declaration in this week's Word of the Week from me, Matt Striker, your teacher.

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