Word

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Words are like leaves; and where they most abound,
Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.

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 – Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
 – An Essay on Criticism [1711], pt. II, l. 109

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.

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.

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?

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

(Mark Twain)

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Words like winter snowflakes.

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

mortar my words
with particles
prepositions
adverbs
and conjunctions

“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.

The web of words wraps round the whole wide world, concealing the secret numbers underneath.

1001 1001 0110 1001 1010 1001

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

»Therefore« is a word the poet must not know.

(Andre Gide)

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

... words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup, they slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe...

We had words. Each and every evening.

Sometimes, when he stopped for beer after work, we had dishes and pots and food, too.