A Magazine by Any Other Name?

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DEAR READER: Thanks so much for your note, and I am glad you like the magazine.

I understand your beef with the word spry. The definition of the word itself doesn't say anything about age, but you're right about the way it's been used historically--to describe the 80-year-old who can still make it up the stairs. There are great things about the word--it speaks to our whole being, our attitudes rather than simply our weight or cholesterol numbers. It covers the inspiration piece that's so important when we're trying to get people to change the way they live for the better.

Part of what I'm trying to do is to re-define the word spry. To communicate that you can be spry--or not--in your 30s as well as in your 80s. That's one of the reasons we feature women in their 30s and 40s as much as women in their 50s or 60s. I know plenty of women younger than me who I wouldn't call spry--and (despite the favorable lighting in my editor's photo) I am 48, to be 49 in November.

There are lots of challenges in creating a magazine--the most difficult for middle-child-me being that I can't please everyone. So unfortunately, I can't change the name, for lots of reasons (one of which is ... most of the ones I'd want are taken!). I hope you keep reading, regardless. --Lisa D

What do you all think about the name Spry? Are you turned off too?