Words Can Never Hurt Me

The old nursery rhyme, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me” has encouraged children to ignore taunts and avoid physical retaliation for more than 15 decades.  But words can and do hurt.  They also can thrill, ignite, and inspire.  I admit to a lifetime of frustration and fascination with words. 

As much as I like to talk and interact, I’ve never considered myself a great conversationalist because I’ve always thought other people had a better and broader range of vocabulary.  Impressive, fifty cent words roll off the tongues of some people.  It’s not that I don’t know what the word means, I just seem to use more common ones.  Like when someone says ‘prerogative’ I might have said ‘choice.’  Also, I wonder if we don’t keep having new versions of old conversations just in different settings or viewed from a changed perspective so additional or new words aren’t often required.

It’s sad when someone who aspires to be a writer feels inadequate when it comes to words.  Even with a published book and lots of examples of professional writing, this insecurity still haunts me.  So I started keeping a list of words I wish I could fit into a conversation or my writing.  They are not necessarily favorite words, but ones that for whatever reason I like.  In some cases it’s the sound or the meaning. Some words on my list are:

Absinthe	Recreate (transform, not have fun)
Curry (not the spice)	Renegade
Esteem	Ruffle (the verb)
Hackney	Serpentine
Lassie (not the dog) and laddie	Solace
Moribund	Spectacular
Nexus	Swoon
Noble	Taciturn
Oblique	Tuft
Onomatopoeia	Zenith

In the film Amadeus there is a point where the king tells Mozart that one of his compositions has “too many notes.”  Of course Mozart swooned, went into defensive mode explaining that there were as many notes as were necessary.  When I read something that I’ve written either professionally or for this blog and say to myself, ‘too many words,’ I get taciturn and start to edit.  It sometimes hurts to cut sentences, phrases, or words from a piece.  When my editor cut something from one of the reflections in the book, I usually thought it helped make the piece stronger.  Occasionally I felt erased by the removal of some particular wording and that the piece sounded very generic, no longer attributable to me.  I was surprised at how deep the wound was and how much I felt the need to see the paragraph restored.

Perhaps in an area of your life where you’ve experienced some success there is a periodic niggling about some inadequacy.  Don't be ruffled. Take solace in knowing the feeling is common.  Now go out there and be your spectacular self today!

Marilyn