Word

Words beginning with the »sn« sound in English are often unpleasant: snide, snob, snigger, sneer, snicker, snub, snert, snotty, snippy, snit, snarl, snore, sneak, snag. »Snow« is a word over which there is debate and even an annual change of heart. The first snowfall is almost always welcomed. Christmas snow is considered magical. But too much of a good thing for too long and March blizzards push »snow« into line with the rest of the »sn« words.

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«


There it was, word for word,
The poem that took the place of a mountain.


»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«


 – Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)
 – The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain [1952], st. I

I think that Word is one of these strange softwares that can do anything except what you think it can do. It's not possible to write with this thing, but you can spend your day goofing with toolbars or including all types of spreadsheets or multimedia or even use it as the worst HTML-Editor ever.

I prefer ASCII, really.

Isn't it weird that words work as well as they do? Think about it.

There is a purity in words that cannot be sullied by their use.

'Right again, quite right,' said Mr Swiveller, 'caution is the word, and caution is the act.'

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«

Words like winter snowflakes.

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«


 – Homer (c. 700 B.C.)
 – The Iliad, bk. III, l. 222

The word on my mind right now is >>weekend<<. It's only a few hours away!

I can't wait to get away from this office!!

What I feel for you,
I can't put in words,
language won't hold
my desire.

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«

We shall never understand one another until we reduce the language to seven words.

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«


 – Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)
 – Sand and Foam [1926]

Have you ever noticed that the only difference between »word« and »weird« are the vowels?

“Be careful what you say—you may have to eat your words.”

I don’t think so much about eating my words as about wearing them. When someone sees me, the words come back to haunt like a miasma around me. No matter how colourful my dress, bad words turn everything grey and muddy brown.

Words derive their meaning from the surrounding words, just as human beings derive their meaning from interacting with other humans around them.

And then some more words come along and a paragraph is born.