On the Power of Words

Language. What is it? Webster's Dictionary from 1828 gives a long list of definitions. The first beginning with:

Human speech; the expression of ideas by words or significant articulate sounds, for the communication of thoughts.

So language is made up of ideas expressed through words. This brings to mind John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word...In Latin, In principio erat Verbum. In Greek, Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος (En archē en ho Logos). Verbum is where we get our word verb, an action word, one might say an active word (Hebrews 4:12). It (He / Logos) was there in the beginning, creating the world ex nihilo (out of nothing) and is still active today (Hebrews 1:3).

Words communicate things. Words do things. While we don't have the ability to create things ex nihilo by the power of our word, our words do still have power. Power for great evil (Genesis 11:6) or for great good (Acts 2:14,41). Words can also be quite fun.

On the Joy of Words

I cannot remember how long this has been the case, but I LOVE wordplay. Is love too strong of a word? I don't think so. I've often quibbled with the fact that people will put pizza and their spouse into the same category (things that they love), but we do know that out of the heart, the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45), and it is a real struggle for my mouth not to play with words.

With words I play, from day to day, though the tongue must be tamed along the way. (James 3:2,7-10) I've struggled to understand why it draws me in so, but I find in conversing, I cannot let a pun go. While often these things simply come out in jest, I later find repentance best. (Ephesians 4:29; Colossians 4:6)

I also find joy in recursive acronyms. For instance, GNU stands for "GNU is Not Unix". gRPC stands for "grpc Remote Procedure Call". YAML stands for "YAML Ain't Markup Language". These are all nerdy technology terms, but this article evokes similar feelings of joy in me. While the title is not based on an acronym, it does feel somewhat recursive and self-referential. I appreciate you indulging as I wax poetic over waxing poetic.

On the Beauty of Words

I also like flowery, or eloquent words and phrases. I think this can be off-putting to some people and come across as snobbery. To be honest, I don't know for certain where this penchant of mine began, but there likely was some snobbery to begin with. I grew up in southern Oklahoma where an older, and well loved man I knew would introduce himself as "George Hicks from the sticks", and classmates would pronounce Denton as Dent'n.

I wanted something more, and I found that in movies...old movies...such as My Fair Lady, Sound of Music, the Absent Minded Professor, and the like. It was devastating to me (okay, maybe that's overstating it a bit) to learn that the dialect I had heard in these movies growing up, the beautiful enunciation, the sweet sound of the accent, wasn't actually real. Nowhere did people speak like that in real life. The dialect went by several names, one being the transatlantic accent, and was a learned accent used by actors. The purpose of it was to create a dialect that could sound at home both in Britain and the United States.

Today I think I'm over the snobbery of wanting to sound more educated than those around me, but I do still desire to increase my vocabulary for the sheer beauty of language and my own intrigue. As I increase my vocabulary, and repertoire of phrases, I desire to put them to use and to be able to speak eloquently. There was once a time when this was not looked down upon, but was prized by all.

There is one instance of learning a new phrase that always sticks with me (and is the namesake for this article). It was at my first job, as a web developer for Igniter Media. I was fresh out of college and had a co-worker who was just a few years ahead of me. Whenever we made changes to the code, someone had to review those changes before we published them. In one of these reviews, my co-worker wrote something along the lines of "forgive me if I wax poetic, but..." I had never heard the phrase "wax poetic." I fact, I don't think I even knew of that meaning of the word wax, and it's opposite, wane. I remember having to google the phrase and becoming quite fond of it, despite it typically being perceived as having negative connetations. I didn't see his use of it as snobbery (whether it was or not). I saw it as an opportunity to take on a new phrase for myself.

On the Meaning of Words

From the same co-worker I learned the word pedantic. And yes, I am afraid that I can be quite pedantic at times. Words have meanings! There is such a thing as truth, and reality. We should speak clearly so as to communicate truthfully about reality.

In the same vein, I really enjoy etymology. Words have changed meanings over time, and in our modern usage have often lost the richness of meaning that they once had.

Embracing the Journey, as Perilous as It May Be

So we begin where we started. Words have great power, for good or for evil. Tolstoy said "All happy families are alike, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Similarly there are many ways to abuse words, but only one way to put them to fruitful use:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
-- Ephesians 4:29 ESV

We've seen that words can build up the kingdoms of this world (Genesis 11:6), or build up God's kingdom (Acts 2:14,41).

Playing with words can bring joy, but we must be careful to reign in the tongue (James 3:2,7-10) and not let careless words fly (Ephesians 4:29).

We can care too little for the beauty and variety of words, not desiring to expand our vocabulary and make use of the mind that God has given us, or we can care too much for vocabulary, seeking for the purpose of drawing attention to ourselves.

We should always care about the meaning of words, to ensure that we're communicating truth. And we should look back to the riches of vocabulary from times past, working to recover some of that richness today.