Tuesday, December 31, 2002

My New Year's resolution: 1) I am going to fight the language inflation and 2) I will attempt to stop swearing.... Somebody said: If we use the word awesome to describe a hat, what word will we use when we encounter the great wall of China! ...or a mosque in Istanbul or Notre Dame in Paris.....or falling in love... It seems to me that language inflation is in fact a lowering of our standards because by using only a few favorite words we are making do with a lot less words. More cluster bomb than precision sniper... To say that one is not pleased used to carry a lot of weight - now the minimum seems to be outraged or pissed off...The average person's vocabulary has shrunk to a frightening standard these days and that's why I shall carry a thesaurus with me next year. I shall attempt to name the world around me with the proper words...with precision and meaning. We hear it all around us: things just aren't nice or good anymore, they have to be "f***ing great", they are not bad, they are "damn terrible". Gratuitous swearing is just admitting to a lack of words. I shall treat language like a knife, and be precise in the words that convey my meaning. The more precise I become the less necessary swearing will be. Also, let's face it....it was cool to swear 30 years ago because it really upset parents, grandparents! and teachers....now it is so commonplace that I find it shocking when a person is well spoken and precise and clear - without a single swear word..... 12:00:00 AM    comment [];

© Copyright 2003 Ottmar Liebert. Last update: 8/25/03; 11:49:30 AM.