Besotted, Smitten, and Head Over Heels

I love words. They’re so practical. And free! We collect them throughout our lives, like artifacts of our experience, almost unaware of their power and potential. It’s unimaginable the countless ways we string our cache of words together to express the mundane to the sublime, from our deepest thoughts to our grocery list. How lucky are we?

The average person knows over 40,000 words. Not all at once. They’re tucked away in the recesses of our mind, along with oft-forgotten lyrics, vows, and best intentions. Thank goodness they are filed away as our catalog expands every year because we’re always learning new words. 

Times change and we must go with it, even if it means ending our sentences with an enthusiastic “amirite?” Yes, that’s a new word in the dictionary, albeit slang. But chill peeps, don’t dis slang, it mondo helps score extra words.

Maybe new words purposefully push out old words, such as dungarees. The use of which ages us faster than basking in the sun slathered with baby oil. And don’t say slacks either. And trousers? Well, you might as well put them on over your bloomers. Call them pants, people! Wait a minute, they’re joggers. No, leggings. I’ll get back to you.

Meanwhile, why not use our word treasure trove to be clever? Or should I say erudite? Don’t describe your over-excitable friend as annoying, say she’s effervescent. Handcrafting potholders? Call them bespoke. And don’t dare say you’re bored, instead try, “I’m overcome with ennui.” If someone recommends an antibiotic, hand them a dictionary.

While it’s delicious using words that are foo-foo (and yes, that’s in the dictionary), most times, speaking directly is what’s best. Let’s call a hoe a hoe, meaning the garden implement used to break up dirt. 

For instance, do we really need to say powder room anymore, let alone john? God forbid we say the word toilet. Since it means the bathroom itself and the act of dressing, technically, couldn’t one go to the toilet to toilet? Yep! By the way, those three letters are a 24-point triple-word-score in Scrabble. A game that accepts the word “za” for pizza. Seriously, Scrabble? Would you like it if we called you “Ble?”

Maybe we have thousands of words for the sheer endeavor of using them creatively, such as making new expressions. Instead of the nautical term “under the weather,” coined when ill sailors were sent below deck, let’s switch it up! Next time your co-worker is sick, how about saying, “Oh, he’s below deck.”  You never know, it could catch on.

There are times I wish we’d be more precise with words. For example, the word hate. Can we use it less in our day-to-day parlance?  Must we hate the weather? Our hair? Soy lattes? The Kardashian series? Okay, that last one might have merit. But, the point is that catastrophizing displeasure or inconvenience disempowers the word hate. Let’s use dislike for those things we don’t like and save hate for things that are truly hateful.

So many words are right at our disposal. We use them at will. To pray, to sway, to play, to nay-say or namaste, to make hay, say hey or convey yay! We use them on holiday and every day, whether in Piscataway or Paraguay, to make our way, sing with Beyonce, and, dare I say, even seize the day. But, let us be our own word-guidance-counselor and choose words that matter and say exactly what we mean. 

Considering the OED has more than 600,000 entries, the perfect word is waiting for all of us, amirite?