Don’t waste your words…
We never use a word in this column that we wouldn’t use in everyday conversation. It would be easy to go harvesting big words with the intention of impressing readers and in the hope of nudging a raise from our tight-fisted editor; but no, we just prefer to remain humble. There are 600,000 words in the English language and you will only find a small percentage of those in YCBS.
This isn’t in any way to suggest that we are disinclined to add a new word to our limited vocabulary. Every so often I hear a word I haven’t been in the habit of using and if it’s up for adoption I take it in. We are not talking about words like ‘like’ or ‘so’, which many people believe are an obligatory part of every second sentence nowadays.
Words are pictures in the making. A painting, sketch or photo is a finished article, but with words we paint our own pictures in our heads. That is why reading be so relaxing and generally good for our wellbeing. We are human and we love to play with words in creative ways and I guess this is how the changed meaning of words comes about. Is there anything more entertaining that a bunch of sharp wits around a table feeding off each other! Appreciation of rhetoric will sharpen the mind and increase your word power. Poetry can do it for many lovers of language, although, again, modern poetry doesn’t do it for me.
Three things – reading, writing and conversation – will continue to improve you command of the language. Read widely and often and it will expand your understanding of every facet of the descriptive narrative. Pay attention to how writers construct sentences and convey ideas. Practise writing regularly and that will help hone the style you are most comfortable with. Best of all is what you learn from discussing topics and ideas with others. Always remember you have two ears and only one mouth, so listen actively and learn how others express themselves.
I am old enough to have noticed how the meaning of words can change over time and it can sometimes be disconcerting. My generation find it difficult to refer to somebody’s ‘mom’ instead of a mother or mammy, for example. ‘Gay’ meant something entirely different when I was going to school. A ‘guy’ was a frightful figure based on the story of Guy Fawkes, but then the Americans began to refer to men in general as ‘guys’, and now everyone is a guy… apart from the Lads of course!
History shows us that the meaning of words has always changed over time. ‘Ruffian’ once meant a serious gangster but for the past couple of generations the word has become an endearing tag applied to energetic boys and lovable rogues. ‘Naughty’ has a somewhat similar history. In the long ago if you were naughty it meant you had naught or nothing. Next it came to mean evil or immoral, and now it just means being badly behaved.
The word ‘silly’, in its earliest uses, referred to things worthy or blessed; from there, it came to refer to the weak and vulnerable, and more recently to those who are foolish. ‘Awful’ has changed entirely in its meaning. It comes from the word ‘awe’ and if something was awful it meant being worthy of awe.
We have mentioned the guys and how that one came about; so here is one for the Gorls. ‘Hussy’ comes from the word housewife. (Oh God… I’ve started, so I’ll finish…) It used to refer to the mistress of the household – and not the disreputable woman it depicts today.
This is as good a time as any to state I don’t have all this data in my head but have just looked up a selection of words that changed their meaning over time!
I am a great believer in the simplicity of language. (No, Lads… that does not make me a simpleton!) It is easy to overdo the use of descriptive language and complex words. No matter how much you learn from others, or how we admire great speakers and writers, imitation is not the answer. We all have to be ourselves and just be true to what we are. A speaker or writer who is a phony will be spotted a mile away. Remember that the soundness of your ideas is more important than the sound of your words.
Don’t Forget
Attendances at domestic soccer matches are up more than 30% - and no harm in that. This is in part due to the GAA’s unfathomable insistence on getting the ‘All Irelands’ rushed off with indecent haste – thus finding earliest possible cupboards for ‘McCarthy’ and ‘Sam’.
We are told; ‘this is for the good of the clubs’. Why, then, are county club finals being played in or on the cusp of winter?