Check your baggage (pun intended)

"Use the right word, not its second cousin."  Mark Twain

"The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and the lightening bug."  Mark Twain

Catching up on blog reading a bit this morning, and ran across Marian Perera's recent post talking about my favorite writing contest, the Bulwar Lytton contest held at San Jose State University every year.  (Did I ever tell you I went to SJSU for a whole semester before dropping out to join the Army?) 

At any rate, she mentions the first quote, and I was reminded of the second, which I've quoted someplace on the blahg in previous years.  Also, check out the article Marian links to.  Funny stuff.  It also contains-- couched in the pithy humor-- some great advice for writers.

Sometimes, we don't know the precise word we want or need.To quote The Princess Bride, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

And, regarding word choice, nuance is everything, especially in English, which has so many words with so many shades of meaning attached.  Any given modifier has implications that go with it, some subtle, some not so subtle.  It's called baggage, and baggage is the subtext and submeaning of the word-- how it's usually used, what it usually implies.  The things that you communicate without having to spell it out...or, aas I'm discussing here, the things you didn't mean to imply.  Sometimes it's the literal context of the words in the converation or story; sometimes it's just the underlying submeanings or alternate meanings or common usages of a word.

A quick example is the word 'special.'  If you have two characters having a conversation while watching their children play, and one child falls and hurts himself:  Child's mom says, as she's dusting him off and kissing his booboo, telling him to go back to playing, "That's my special Johnny."  Other mom: "Really?  He looks fine to me."  'Special' may or may not have been intended to indicate a handicap of some sort, but in that context, it sounds like it was...because that is the baggage the word has gained from being used euphemistically for mental handicaps.

You also need to recognize unintended innuendo (sexual, racial, or other allusions.)  By definition, that's an 'indirect and usually malicious implication.'  Phrases that are actually innocent in the writer's mind can imply something else that can create problems.  For example, if you use the line "everyone should own one," it may bring to mind a racial slur, even if what you are saying has nothing to do with race and you in no way intended to imply anything along those lines.

So...check your word baggage, if not at the door then at least during final edits.  You need to recognize the fine differences between using the 'second cousin' word and the one that you really need to make your reference clear; but you also need to recognize perfectly good words when they contain subtleties and implications that work against what you are trying to communicate. 

Comments

[fairyhedgehog]

Talking of baggage, my sons wanted to name our house Morning Wood. I thought that was a lovely name, a bit like Evening Forest, until I saw they were sniggering.

They also suggested Secret Ninja Hideout. I wonder which the Post Office would prefer?

[writtenwyrdd]

I love Morning Wood. Heh. ;)