I sure do love words. And one of these days, I will start learning how to use them. But until then, Linda Stowe wrote this fine piece about words. And so I invite you to read it now.
Thanks for always visiting Polly Goggles. The world through yet another lens.
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Words Without Thought
by Linda Stowe
When I was younger Roget’s Thesaurus was my favorite book. I loved reading about the various shades of meaning each word had. When well placed, every word has a richness that perfectly describes a situation. Wrongly used, a word misleads; overused, it loses its power.
In this age of hyperbole, people are grabbing onto words willy-nilly without thought to whether they really apply. As a result, the meaning of words is becoming diluted. Toxic is becoming less toxic when applied to relationships instead of deadly chemicals. Literal is losing its meaning because people are literally using it to describe every situation. People are applying “totally” without thought to how extreme it is. As a result, the meaning of words is shifting. North becomes south, in becomes out, yes becomes no.
Commentators comment 24/7 (another misuse) trying to come up with fresh ways of saying the same thing. If someone comes up with something original, soon everyone is saying the same thing until all the life is drained from the original comment. When Jen Psaki was President Biden’s spokesperson, a phrase she often used was “we’ll circle back to that.” Before long everybody was circling back. Another popular phrase that is making the rounds these days is, “there’s a lot to unpack here.” Turn to any panel discussion and you will likely hear someone talk about unpacking something, whether the topic is international trade or tomorrow’s weather.
This is not new. Not that long ago, we were pushing the edge of the envelope and thinking outside the box to figure out who moved our cheese. We’re a bunch of copycats.
It has been said that English has the most words of any language. Maybe it’s time we put some of the more obsolete words back into rotation.
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