Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

I am catching up on my podcasts as I wait for school to be restarted (Mineral, Va). I teach 3rd graders and a lot of time is spent teaching them how to attack new words to determine meanings. We use a developmental spelling program that tops out at a level named Derivational Constancy.

Luggage and Baggage. I ask them to tell me the words they see within these two words. Bag would come quickly but it might take a trip to the dictionary to pull lug out of luggage. I see the difference between the two words in this way.

to lug is to carry

to bag can mean to fill, or a soft container that has been filled.

given that, I can understand why luggage can be held as referring to an empty case while baggage has to be filled up with something.

Jim