Look forward to your tenacious days ahead…

Tenacious. To be honest, it’s not a word I’ve ever used in a sentence except perhaps for when talking about the band, Tenacious D. To be even more honest, I wasn’t even sure how to use it.

You’re probably wondering how I came to be in possession of a card with such an odd fortune on it. Well, it came in a plastic ball…

And I got it from Selfridges.

Selfridges is not a place I normally shop in, but when I passed by the other night I had to stop and go in. In the window there was a huge wooden rollercoaster and what appeared to be a ball-pool full of coloured balls containing words.

This Word-A-Coaster is a project intended to celebrate the English language. It’s Nice That: Words Words Words has taken over the UltraLounge on the Lower Ground floor of Selfridges until March 1st, and this amazing Word-A-Coaster will be in the window for that period, too.

Here’s a bit of an explanation from the It’s Nice That website:

For the showpiece corner window of Oxford Street and Orchard Street, we have collaborated with interactive designer Stewdio to create ‘The Word-A-Coaster’ a playful fortune telling machine. The 14 foot high hand-built wooden rollercoaster (constructed by model makers Atom) is surrounded by a sea of 30,000 brightly coloured balls filled with 30,000 unique fortunes that can be picked up in store for free.

Inside the balls, shoppers will find a small card emblazoned with a uniquely numbered adjective, generated by a clever computer programme that leaves each individual with their own personal, playful prediction for 2012.

When I went to Selfridges the Word-A-Coaster was unfortunately broken, but I was allowed to reach over and pick up a word anyway. I got “tenacious”, and have been puzzling over it ever since. At first I thought it was a word with a negative meaning, but I then realised that it could also be positive. If I am to have “tenacious days ahead” this year, I think that means I will have to stick to my guns and be a bit stubborn about the things I want to achieve. So, losing weight and saving money it is!

For more information about Words Words Words, please visit the Selfridges website.