Long Live Words!

As Ernest Hemingway said, "Once writing has become your major vice and greatest pleasure only death can stop it. "

Words. I want to discuss words. Obviously to a writer words are important but I was recently reminded by someone how important words are to me.  Ironically, it was due to an argument with an individual who did not believe words were important. As a note of advice to anyone, telling a writer words are not important is like flashing a juicy, red steak to a rabid dog. 

I credit musicians with the ability to make people feel through the sounds and music they produce and though a listener may not necessarily understand the notes on the page in front of the musician they can feel emotions such as sadness, happiness, anger, calm, peace, energy.  Any number of feelings can be produced by the song they are hearing and it may be a feeling unique to them triggered by a memory or a shared love of a group enjoying the energy.

I credit painters and sculptures and artists of all kinds.  The ability to produce an image or shape a piece can move people, make them question, make them give thought and reaction. The viewer may not fully understand the detail and the work that went into the piece of art.  They may not understand the techniques used or the artist's motivations.  Yet the viewer can be so moved visually, stimulated by sight over an image or sculpture or dance that they can have a physical reaction.

On the other hand, a writer and reader have a symbiotic relationship.  The reader needs to understand what the writer is saying through the words.  A writer is compelled to express what they are feeling or thinking in those same words.  The difference between the writer and reader may be how those words are interpreted but the words are the foundation for both.  It is a relationship that ties writer to reader.

I have always been a logophile, which means word lover, and even more a sesquipedalian, a lover of long words.  I have often been known to just pick up the dictionary and open it to any page and read the reads until I find one I do not know just to learn a new word.  When I left 8th grade my school had a graduation type ceremony and my parents gifted me a red dictionary and a yellow thesaurus.  Those are, to this day, books that go with me wherever I live, those and my large anthology of the Complete Works of Shakespeare. 

So in response to the individual who tried to say that words are not important but that it was the underlying, hidden meaning that was important, my response is that I respectively but emphatically disagree.  Words are like a house.  Words are the foundation and the hidden underlying meaning is the interior design.  You can not have the inside of a house without a foundation.  You can not arrive at a thought or underlying meaning without words.

Words have roots but no boundaries.  Words can start wars or end wars.  They are a weapon that can kill and heal.  They can excite and arouse, anger and abase, elate and sadden, describe, encourage, discourage, create images and fantasy, express love, express hate.  They can sooth and caress and teach and entertain.  There is no boundaries to how words fit into our lives.  Words do not need sound, which if you want someone do sign language can be beautiful, but those signs are based on words. They are symbols and warnings and messages and creations.

Words not important. Ha! In this debate I can not side with that opinion. In fact, I recommend everyone at least once a week open their dictionaries and learn a new word. Go to the library and just stop in front of a book, open to any page and seek a word you may not recognize. The root of words is historical, the boundaries of what words can do endless and the hold it has on each and every one of us is tight. Words do matter.  They will live to fight another day and in another way. Long live words!