i miss writing. i hate journals. i need it to be a discipline and i don't always have something to say. okay, the people who know me well would disagree. however, i know that i don't always have something important to say. so here's my safe place to document those things that are both important and unimportant in my world.
having said that, i thought i'd start by sharing a bit of a conversation that i had with a friend the other day. we were discussing the power of words. quite frankly, swearing doesn't offend me. i think the majority of people either don't know any better or it's just become such a part of their vocabulary that they are completely unaware of it. and yet, there are times when i am grossly offended. it took some time to figure out what the difference was. cursing should be an attention-grabber. that's why it's called "strong language". but shouldn't all language be strong? shouldn't my words carry weight and meaning regardless of what they are? "offensive" words change within cultures and times. words take on new meaning, invoke different responses. it's the meaning behind them and also in the way they are perceived that make them offensive.
what i have discovered is that i'm offended by "offensive" words when they are used intentionally superfluously. if you are relying on your words to carry weight then you should only have to use them once. if i go around cursing like a sailor, i may have to say things a few times for people to know that i "mean" it. the same applies to "non-offensive" words. if i always say, "awesome", "amazing", "epic", it should mean something and not be something that i say just to fill in a gap or because i feel prompted to respond a certain way.
so i've challenged myself to keep my words few and meaningful. i don't want to be perceived as rude, but i'm not going to talk about things that are unimportant to break the silence or to sound cool.
kind of ironic since i'm starting a new blog, huh?
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Hello kitty: Michelle
ReplyDeleteFrom the other kitty: Carmen
I hate journals too and I love writing and miss it... Journals make great when traveling... but, for me, for other reasons, they just don't work. So, we already have two significant things in common. I think words carry weight in and out of themselves but, as a writer, the most important thing for me is honesty. I don't know how anyone can write w/o honesty and mean what they say when they say what they mean. However, there are many writers whom do it for the sake of, lets say, for example, getting published. The truth is that meaning in words comes from the writer and what is perceived comes from outside the writer. These two are separate, even if they may be affected one by another.. they just are two separate things, I believe. I think the aim of a writer should be to keep them separate... because if not, the writer begins to write for the wrong reasons, in order to please others, and not for the sake of writing. In this process, honesty is often lost... and I one hate that.
As a linguist, speaking and having learned multiple languages, I understand that words are powerful when used right. There is such a thing as using words incorrectly (and I am not referring here at grammar or syntax). Anyway, welcome to blogger and know you are going to hear from me... hope that is OK. I love to write and I love to think...
Carmen
thank you for those encouraging words! i think that i was ultimately referring to spoken word. i really have been trying to speak less, which has made me want to write more -- using words in different ways.
ReplyDeletei'm looking forward to the journey ahead and what i learn/re-learn about myself through the process.