Word

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

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

“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.

on Mar 22nd 2001, 02:07:31, Natasha Jordan wrote the following about

word

Think how much acceptance Mary showed when she said:

»Let it be done to me according to thy word.«

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And how much courage.

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Words like winter snowflakes.

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

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.

mortar my words
with particles
prepositions
adverbs
and conjunctions

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

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


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

My favourite word in the English language is »language«. However, if you gave me a slightly larger set of words to choose from I might have more difficulty expressing a preference.

A word has the power to define, to bind, to create, to destroy. Truely, a poet has power undreamt of by kings.

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.

(Mark Twain)

Spaces define which letters to together to make up a word.

Rotor is a fine palindrome, thought Frank Leigh Dearie as he ambled down the Lost Highway.

Which is more useful to you: a dictionary that tells you how to use a word or a dictionary that tells you how a word is used?