I'll admit it. Sometimes I get hung up on words. It probably comes from hanging around copywriters for 25 years. For example, when someone starts a sentence with "Honestly," I cringe. Perhaps they should have said, "Candidly," if they were being candid, or "Frankly," if they were being frank. But saying "Honestly" can only mean that anything they've said before that was not quite so honest.
Laura Booth brought to my attention another verbal miscue for which I've been guilty a number of times. I used to use the phrase, "I'm anxious to get started on that project." One day Laura looked at me with a sly grin and said, "Are you anxious or eager?" Damn. I was eager. Anxious means I had anxiety about the project. No, I was only eager.
You may say these are unimportant distinctions. I would argue, though, that in our world of ever increasing discourse, it is more important than ever to be clear in our communications. We create perceptions with every communication - written or spoken. Do you want someone to think you're eager or anxious? Candid or honest?
Just a thought or two to ponder.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
When you work with words, words are your work.
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5 comments:
I prefer to use the word CLEARLY.... Does that ring a bell?
It rings a bell all the way from Ok-la-homa.
Your so smart..... I'm hurt you didn't use my word as a reference point.
For those of you who might be wondering, the other word is "Standpoint." About 18 months ago, Laura Booth began counting how many times in meetings we (primarily me) used the word "Standpoint" in our conversations. It was out of control. Really. In one thirty minute meeting, I personally used it 36 times.
Today, I have excommunicated the word "Standpoint" from my vocabulary. "Perspective," "viewpoint" and others have replaced it.
Copywriters. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.
:) I CLEARLY have a sickness that has no remedy! My mother recently thought it was a good idea to publicly state that I used to read the dictionary for fun. I think the woman WANTS the townsfolk to ostracize me (and they probably would too, if they knew what that word meant). Ha!
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