The Story Behind Our Stories

I’m so grateful to Derek Burnett for explaining how Reader’s Digest edits and fact-checks its stories (August/September). It’s frightening that much of the information online comes from underqualified and often unpaid sources. But it feels good to read the magazine with confidence, knowing your focus is to maintain our trust in you. You have done so. —GEORGIA KAY MCCARTNEY Urbana, IL

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Word Power

I bombed the Word Power quiz featuring slang used by Generation Alpha (February). My Gen Alpha daughters, ages 12 and 9, informed me that one of the words, bussin’, can only be used in specific contexts, namely when praising food, shoes, clothes or events (e.g., “That pizza/your Nikes/that concert was bussin’.”) Hope this helps my fellow wordies use it properly.
—JESSICA DEROSIER West Palm Beach, FL

From the Editors
As the writer of Word Power, I didn’t know much about Gen Alpha lingo before tackling this particular quiz either. So I’m grateful to young people like your daughters—and to my friends who are teachers—who clued me in.
—SARAH CHASSÉ, former RD copy chief

Warning! This Fruit May Orbisculate

Your story about a family’s attempt to get their made-up word in the dictionary (July) reminded me of a children’s book called Frindle by Andrew Clements. It’s about a boy who invents a new word for an inexpensive ballpoint pen—a frindle—and starts a movement by getting all his classmates to use it. Eventually, in the story, the word makes its way into the dictionary. Hope the same happens for this one.
—PATTIE TUGGLE Atlanta, GA

From the Editors
We’re proud to have helped orbisculate gain some notoriety by naming our new puzzle after it (page 114). I’m a little less proud to admit that I read