Musings in Search of a Muse

Words, words, words. All this writing of late has made me once again wonder how many words there are in the English language. One source says about three million with about 200,000 in common usage. Another says there are none if you consider it abstractly.

I'm always on the hunt for new words and I like using as many varied words as possible (admittedly I need work on this, especially with transition words). One professor in my first year at college marked up a paper of mine for the variety and complexity of words commenting "Anyone can write with a thesaurus!" Then he crossed that out and added "Sorry. I didn't look at whose paper it was first." That's funny because in high school I had trouble believing that a writer would be so careful about word choice. This drove my Shakespeare teacher starkers.

One has to adjust language to suit the audience, of course. My teammates at work and I had this discussion recently when they heard me using some Yiddish slang on the phone with a customer. I told them that I always tailor the words I use to the customer because it makes them more comfortable. Then I suggested that this might be one of the reasons customers have such a good experience with me.

We also had a discussion on the Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on Television. I specifically avoid using them because I want to maintain their impact. The F word, for example, is so powerful that when I use it in conversation people stop. And while I avoid unnecessarily crude humor, I don't mind blue humor if it's situationally appropriate. That, in a nutshell, is the same rule I use for so-called foul language in general. I may be a bit more liberal on this than Bill Cosby's position because I'm from a different generation, but I certainly admire him for taking the stand that he has.

Everybody in the discussion had a word or two that they refuse to say under any circumstance. For me, I'd be really hard pressed to use what is commonly referred to (especially by Caucasians) as the N word. I'm also loath to use any slang describing genitalia.

Regardless of how many words there are in any language (and irregardless is not a word), it's a shame not to use them. Language is both the product of a culture and it's backbone.