Words

I posted a new vocabulary word on Face Book the other day: scuppered.  I read it in an article and was in awe. A new word to use!  Difficult to put into a sentence let alone a conversation, but oh the glory of it all if you are successful!  Oh and by the way, scuppered is defined as sinking a ship deliberately.  So I'm now on a mission to use the word scuppered.

This is not the first time I have become swept up in the romance of a new word.  I actually shivered when I first heard the word, surreptitious.  I could not wait to use it.  Of course when I finally did use it, it was anticlimactic.  I got a "huh?' and life went on.  The lesson learned there was know your audience.  The only worse situation is using a great word incorrectly and in front of someone who actually knows what it means.  Embarrassed doesn't even cover that situation.

I must explain that although I love words, talking and writing, I have little education behind the love.  I was into the sciences and liberal arts was not a focus for me, so I got by only taking the minimum requirement for English both in high school and college. I wasn't interested in being well balanced, I wanted to get out of school and work. Do I rue the day I made the blunder of not pursuing more balanced education?  Oh yes I do.  There is irony I suppose because the fact is I have always been a voracious reader.  I was reading the same books as my mother by the time I hit third grade.  Not a genius, I just read whatever was in the house.  The good news is I didn't understand a lot of what I read since they were most often....novels of a certain genre.  You know: cheesy romance or mystery stories.  Looking back, I am horrified at some of the books, but in the end, I didn't become a sociopath and I still love reading.  Taste, well that's another can of worms all together.  I still read anything: soup cans, cereal boxes and sleazy romance novels as well as Pulitzer prize winning tomes. 

You should know that spelling is an issue for me.  My spelling is abysmal.  If it weren't for spell check I'd be in deep trouble.  I think it is a genetic issue somehow.  I spell poorly, my son's father spelled worse than I did and our son struggled with it as well.  My son and I have fabulous vocabularies, but again if it weren't for spell check, well, it wouldn't be pretty.  To his credit, my son doesn't shy away from using great words, and he has figured out a way to present his thoughts beautifully and spells without embarrassment.

I encourage you to break the mold when it comes to words.  We use our favorite 500 words out of being comfortable rather than wanting to convey a thought or a feeling accurately.  There are a lot of words out there because there are a lot of things to describe in our lives.  Should you use fire or conflagration for example?  Fire means flame.  Conflagration means large destructive fire.  Which word really describes what you were trying to say? As I have said before: words are powerful.  Words should communicate, inspire, motivate, entertain, and at times make you reach for the dictionary, but they should never be complacent.  Words educate, titillate, stimulate, and help you contemplate.  Use them well, use them wisely, use them precisely and with joy.  Words are the tools that help you share your world.  

By the way, I was out sailing the other day and some damned fool scuppered his ship for the insurance money. OK, that was a rather abrupt use of scuppered.  I will figure out a way to use that word in a conversation and a hush will come over the audience...or there will be a "huh?" and life will go on.  Until then: Life is good.