Wonderful Words (20/365)

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January 20, 2015 – We have so many wonderful words that I just treasure. Language ebbs and flows, and words fall in and out of favour though.

I think our language has gone through more rapid and dramatic evolutions in the short time that social networking and smart phones have been around, than it likely ever has in previous history.

Really great words necessitate context, I can’t call someone pugnacious in a mere text…wonderful words demand love and attention on the page, and a word like pugnacious takes up too many precious characters for use in a Tweet.

One of the best books I’ve ever read for language and words is a short little book called Three Men in a Boat (to Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome ~ 1889. Even though it is 126 years old, it is a fabulous read; the language is flowery and it is more like poetry than a novel. Any book that can spend two or three pages describing cheese is a wonderful treasure.

It makes me a little sad that we seem to be reducing our conversations to 140 character communications and use acronyms for so much now, when did words become clunky and outdated?

WTF!