Words Words Words

So I’ve been thinking about words a lot lately.  I think in and about words all the time.  I’m a total left-brainer, all about logic and reasoning (hello lawyer and philosophy major!), I’m a writer (I know, I know – little creative right-brain bits sneak in from time to time), a compulsive reader, and an enthusiastic Scrabble/Word Feud player.  Plus I’m a logophile generally – a fabulous word that I use because I cannot bring myself to say I’m a word-lover…  (teehee)  And you’ll understand why I “teehee’d” this by the end of this post, promise.  So it’s not unusual for me to think about words.

But lately I’ve been thinking about how and when I personally use them, rather than just about their meanings.  I’ve been re-reading some of my stories/works-in-progress as I prepare to go all-in on the fiction writing front.  And I’m coming to the realization that I am a compulsive categorizer, over-explainer, word snob, and creature of habit.  None of which are exactly great on the whole creative, writing a book, front.

Eek, she said.

Since they say acknowledging you have a problem is the first key to fixing it (you know them, they say all kinds of crap, but this one I think has some merit), I am going to start here and now.

Hello.  My name is Jill and I am addicted to language.
[Hello Jill]

In an attempt to cure myself of the worst elements of my addiction – which I have self-identified as the snobbishness, and chronic over-/under-use of certain words and themes, and overdone adverb usage.  I am going to sit down right now and determine which words are my biggest nemeses and thus take away all of their power over me and my writing.

Or at least, I’m going to make a series of word lists.  (teehee)

Words that I Use Because I Think They Make Me Sound Smart (NB: these are just examples; the full list would be WAY too long for publication…  sigh)

• Obviate
• Metaphysical(ly)
• Redundant
• Obviously
• Ontological
• Denigrate
• Oeuvre

Words that I Dramatically Overuse Just Because I Like Them (or Because I’m Convinced they Provide Clarity Even Though Reflection Suggests They Probably Do Not)

• Actually
• Seriously
• Frankly
• Fabulous
• Honestly
• Teehee
• Sigh

Words that I’m No Longer Allowed to Use Because They are Unnecessary for Any Purpose Other than Increasing Word Count

• Excitedly
• Significantly
• Meaningfully
• Happily
• To that end
• That is
• In other words
• For example
• As a result

Now that I have those out of the way, I’m going to make a few more lists of words – these are just for fun though and have absolutely nothing to do with the beginning of the post.  And this isn’t about word count, because I don’t count words on blog posts.  This is just because thinking about negative word things is no fun, even if it is probably useful, and so I wanted to end the post on positive/fun word things.  You know, just for me.  🙂

Words that Make Me Giggle

• Piddle
• Sploosh
• Poofy
• Titillate

Words that Creep Me Out

• Moist
• Lover
• Furry
• Damp
• Puberty

Words that I Love but Almost Never Get to Use in Any Context Other than “Gee, I Love [Word]!” because to Do So Would Mark Me As Indefensibly Obnoxious

• Defenestrate
• Abjure
• Daft
• Agog