Instead of writing about death all. the. time... today I will write about a conversation I had with my beloved LAS about language. About words, to be more specific - and their ability to change the way people feel. We got to talking about words today because damn it, there has been a lot of dark and stormy news coming our way lately.
After some discussion we decided we would attempt to lift the gloom by banning certain words and replacing them with others. We are starting with five:
Lame
Suck
Hate
Annoy (and all related forms)
Damn it
Lame has no acceptable substitute. Suck can be iterated as "not ideal." Hate can be expressed as "do not prefer." Annoy? Inconvenient. Damnit? No acceptable substitute.
We are going to squelch the defeatist and sad making words for a few days and see if we start feeling, well, better. Feel free to join us and comment here with your results. We need more than two people to achieve anything like statistical significance.
Happy Monday, and thank you more than ever for reading.
6 comments:
Hmm... I am not sure I can stop saying those words. How else will I describe half the people and situations around me accurately?!
:)
Substitute "God bless it" for damn it.
I'm with you. I do not prefer negativity right now.
I fear I'm a hypocrite. I'm always trying to get my mother to speak in a more positive fashion, but I'm not sure how good a job I do myself on that. I'll have to watch myself for a while, and make a concerted effort.
Count me in!
Lame = not cool
Dammit = #&!
See - easy!
I ain't quittin' any particular words, no banning for me. But I am a big fan of the whole gist of using more positive language. It's a (flexible) rule in my arsenal of morals. Language is more enormously more powerful than we tend to give it credit for from day to day, and I always intend to use that power for goods and not ills to the best of my ability. There's a time and a place for all language, but any exercise aiming at getting us toward the best possible (and positive) usages of it is admirable.
Annoy = irk. "Irk" is a fine word, and sadly neglected. Better, "annoying" becomes "irksome," which is a quantum improvement.
For hate... well, yeah, I know this meme is so last year, but I usually do the lolcat version, "Do Not Want." In keeping with a positive lingual outlook, it's goofier and milder than outright hate, more of a "unwelcome, please stop now, thanks."
I'm so very sorry to hear about Bob and Lisa... please forgive me for my late condolences. I hadn't realized you were back, having lost the link to your undisclosed location and thus missing any announcement you may have made as to returning here. Still, it's really good to "see" you again!
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