WORDS WORDS WORDS

I remember as a child, if I was reading a book and came across a word that I didn’t understand, I’d ask my Mom what the word meant.  She would respond with “Look it up”, while pointing towards our 17 pound, hard covered, Merriam-Webster dictionary.  Yes, my Mom knew the meaning of the word and could very easily have just told me the meaning.  But having me and my sister look up these words would not only make us remember the words, but this could lead to our knowing even more words.  Because there were quite a number of times (when I was a child) that looking up one word would make me have to look up another word.  Somewhat like setting off a grenade in a dynamite factory.  (by the way, for all those who may be Paralegals like me, this was also how I described shepardizing when I was studying litigation)

Since childhood, and probably as a result of my Mom making me look up words, I have had a fascination with words in general, and some in particular.  When I was a school-aged kid, I would even pick out one word randomly of my smaller paper-back dictionary every night to learn the meaning.  I’d close my eyes, open the dictionary to a random page, put my finger down and then open my eyes.  I don’t do that now, but do I often go to the thesaurus to find a better, more interesting word to use. 

My dictionary game that I played as a kid is how I learned one of my favorite words, which unfortunately I don’t get to use that often.  That word is verisimilitude.  The meaning of this word, you ask?  From Encarta Dictionary, the definitions for this word are:  1. “the appearance of being true or real” and 2. “something that only appears to be true or real, e.g. a statement that is not supported by evidence”.  With the current administration, it may be that I get to use my favorite word more often now!  Although, with the current administration, there isn’t even an “appearance” of truth most of the time.

But this blog post is not about how horrible the current administration is, nor about how embarrassed I am that the current President of my country is a complete buffoon, who doesn’t even have the wherewithal to know that you shouldn’t act like a petulant child when a leader of another allied country visits, and refuse to look at her or shake her hand. 

But I digress …

Recently, I started reading a new book.  One that I actually found on the subway platform on the way to work.  Some nice person had actually left 4 books, up on a ledge, leaning up against the wall, as if it were a lending library!  What a nice idea! 

Within the first chapter, I came across one particular word … pernicious … and I had to stop and just savor that word!  I know it seems strange to savor a word with such a negative meaning.  But that’s the thing.  Sometimes it’s not the meaning that makes me love a word.  It’s the way it sounds when I say it.  Some words just make me happy, regardless of their meaning.  I mean, even the word "nefarious" makes me smile.  Again, not the meaning, just the way it "sounds" and rolls off my tongue!

Other words can cause me to feel uncomfortable, disjointed, or just not quite right.  One of those being the word “quite”, which I just used.  Again, not the meaning of the word that’s causing the issue.  It’s more of the “feeling” of this word.  It’s too close to “quiet”, yet with a completely disconnected meaning to that word.  And it just makes me feel a bit “off”.  Putting those two words together, as in maybe … “It was quite quiet in the library” can really wreak havoc on me!  Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But you get my drift.

I had once read a book (fiction) about someone who had synesthesia.  This is a neurological phenomenon where words, colors, number, etc. can cause a person to experience a separate sensory reaction.  For example, a number … let’s say 3 … may make the person also think of the color red.  To better explain it, I’ll quote from a website dedicated to this phenomenon (www.synesthete.org) “Synesthesia is a perceptual condition of mixed sensations: a stimulus in one sensory modality (e.g., hearing) involuntarily elicits a sensation/experience in another modality (e.g. vision). Likewise, perception of a form (e.g., a letter) may induce an unusual perception in the same modality (e.g. a color).”  Ok, that may not have helped to explain it.  Maybe this will …

I don’t have synesthesia.  To be honest, I find that a bit disappointing. I think it would be a much more interesting and colorful life to have this!  I mean, how cool would it be if Tuesday was purple, and if hearing a dog bark would make you taste raspberries?  If listening to your favorite song (let’s imagine you have your eyes closed) would also provide you with a rainbow of colors floating past your eyelids … wouldn’t that be just wonderful?

In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy the fact that certain words (and numbers) will elicit an emotional reaction in me.  I will keep looking for words like jubilant (rather than just “happy”) or fatigued (rather than just “tired”).  And I will keep the Dictionary and the Thesaurus handy!  And maybe, I’ll start to play my dictionary game again!