I Love Words

Hi Everyone/Anyone
I have been accused of talking too much most of my life. I will admit to, on occasion, being swept away by my own voice but the truth is I love words. I love them. They are entertaining, interesting, stimulating and even a little dangerous and naughty. (Here I see Nana giggling behind her hand). They roll around on the tongue like marbles just waitng to be played. I appreciate their basic design as a tool of communication but they can be so much more.

Advertisers have known forever that words are powerful and far reaching (yeah, reach right into YOUR wallet). I mean why have tomato soup when you can have rich, creamy tomato soup with a hint of basil and Parmesan cheese? Before the advent of TV imagery with its 'sexy' and 'smiling' and 'this can be you' bologna words were king. Marketers had to try to create a desirable portrait of the product seductive enough that you would want to buy it. All done with words my friend.

When I was a teen I used the good old 'F' word within an inch of its life. Everything was 'F'ing' this and 'F'ing 'that. Pointed but not very creative. Then I started to read with a vengence. The classics such as Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and all Margaret Lawrence's books. I fell in love with the taste, the feel, the sensuality of words. Their ability to sweep me away to another time. The dewey moors, the dark bedrooms and the tempermental nuances of an inappropriate love was astonishing to me. I didn't give up the 'F' word until much later but regretted every time I used it for its lazy descriptiveness.

I could hardly read a book anymore that didn't teach me something, introduce a new thought or way of being in the world. I was starving to death and words were the only sustenance I wanted. I read books by Native North Americans and fell under the trance of the native way of looking at life. Their traditions, relationship to the land opened me in a way I had never recognized I wanted opening. I think Black Elk Speaks was one of my favorites.

Oh and how about John Steinbeck...East of Eden.Timshel. If you could see me right now I am practically swooning from the romance of it all. It was unbelievable to me how he wove that word in front and back of the novel. Somerset Maughm is another favorite. I want to be romanced, transported, educated, and maybe even spanked a little (Again, Nana giggling behind her hand).

Now this all brings me to a sorrow I have been experiencing while reading lately. For some reason some of the modern authors I have come across have adopted a short hand sort of style that just isn't rich enough for me. I especially encounter this in short stories, where people and concepts drop out of the air and end the same way with no resolution and to my mind no apparent point. I don't understand the concept and I can't image that I am so antiquated in my needs that it is actually beyond my understanding.

Why do authors think it is okay to write in twitterese? I wonder if they know their literary technique is going to become obsolete quickly. Do they not want their books to stand the test of time? The classics still resonate because, not just their themes but their style remain constant. I sort of think that we have raised a generation where spelling, the dreaded and boring grammar and punctuation have lost their value and magic. I am no genius when it comes to these things but I know the purpose of a well placed comma can be the equivalent of a raised eyebrow or a pregnant pause...forceful, dark, tempting.

Now the inital point of my blog today was talking. I assume that people don't just want to hear the short, and boring version of the story. I assume and they want to hear and I want to tell the overflowing and adjective rich tale. Storytelling traditions are lost in our culture, which is sad because sitting around listening to someone ad lib, rework and embellish a story is pretty fantastic. I don't just want to report I want you to hear the story. Let me paint a picture for you. Here, I'll put you in the damp, pungent forest or how about at the coconut sun tan lotion infused beach. Oh, hey wait have you been to the meadow and stood under the trembling aspens and listened to what the leaves are saying or watched the wind come toward you in waves in the long, itchy, green grass. I can take you to the dark, cool night and sit you in a wrinkled and slouching camp chair where you can tilt your head back and see the big dipper or Orion's belt while being steeped in wood smoke from the fire.

I love words like hubris...arrogance caused by exessive pride (Hello Bernie Madoff!!), or corpulent...fatness, obesity (roll it around on your tongue and it makes perfect sense as a word). I am famous for giving nicknames to people (why use Willow when you can say cha cha or my son doo or doodle? Right?).

I don't want to be petulant but I do want to be corny. How about, stagnant, didactic, incorrigible? More, more, more please. No, no, no to CU or waz up! Save me and save words.
Use them, play with them, make mistakes with them, buy a dictionary and thesaurus (make sure they are good ones, I have one that doesn't even have some of the words I look up..OUTRAGE!!)

Most of all when you talk, fill'er up. Pull every phrase you can out of your hat and give it to people full blow. Annie Dillard is a wonderful wordsmith. Read her. Patti Griffin and Bruce Springsteen as well as Tupac are/were brilliant writers. Do a bit of research on their lyrics and find your own rhythm. It really is music to the ears. Tell people they are up and down more often than a June bride's nightgown.

I am advocating a revolution. Don't settle for medicore. Rise up people and feed your hunger for knowledge and words by using them. Whip out those heavy, mouldy smelling dictionaries your parents had and find a word a day to surprise someone with. Heck, surprise yourself. Go, go do it now.

Ultimately I don't care if I am accused/denounced/indicted for talking to much, because I know I don't just want to commune but decorate. Words are free, a joy available to everybody so why not take advantage of the opportunity/chance/ocassion to make conversation more
flamboyant/ostentatious/ornate. By they way encourage your kids, all ages, to talk, talk, talk with as much joy and depth of expression as they can. Write down those baby words. My boy was tryng to describe an eaves trough at 2 and called it a water chimney -brilliant no? The bees were beezing along and the cows were conspirisizing in the field in his world. Yeah for language!!

See you next time
Jane