The English language consists of more than 400,000 words. Comedian George Carlin had a routine, “The Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” It amazes me that two words that mean the same thing are viewed differently–one can be used in polite conversation and the other is considered nasty. It’s fine to say, “I stepped in some excrement,” but not, “I’ve got s*** on my shoe.”
Words come and go. Each year, new words that have become widely used are added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Some expressions you’ll hear in our house aren’t used much anywhere else: nuts, phooey, neat, holy cow and Fred Flintstone’s yabba yabba do.
The first writers’ group I joined included several poets. They talked about agonizing over one word for hours. I thought they were being pretentious.
I was a freelancer attending evening, civic board meetings and phoning in my report to the Rockford Morning Star before the area daily’s ten o’clock deadline. I was often jotting down my article while continuing to listen to the ongoing session. I didn’t have time to think about the words I was using, I depended on the editor for any revisions my piece might need.
As I began writing feature articles for national magazines about people and their passions, I had more time to spend on my stories. I often grabbed the dictionary to look up a familiar word to be sure it meant what I thought it did. Terms that mean almost the same thing could have different connotations. There’s a big difference between saying a woman wore an evening gown and she wore a nightgown.
We all need to think about what we’re saying or writing. Angry words spoken in haste can never be taken back no matter how many times we apologize. Degrading epithets linger in memories.
Do you think about the words you’re using?