Where did all the words go? All the superlatives have been worn wafer thin with over use and full scale deflection has been repeatedly achieved. Current events send the needle whanging vigorously to the end stop of the meter, past the red and round the pin at the end of the scale. The world is in a state and no mistake. I choose to opt for understatement. Please refer to my second sentence above. It's all that is left. And we shall not fix it here, even were it fixable. No, we shall acknowledge the abundant awfulness and concede that further handwringing is unhelpful in the grand scheme of things. Elsewhere, we shall do what we can, but here, no solutions are to be attempted or even discussed.
And so what do we do here? We write words. Powerful things words. They can slap with stinging impact, jolt like a crash landing or caress like a lovers touch.
Or, as seems to be the case of late, I find they can elude, hiding behind the static and confusion that communication can often engender. Why, the other day, grasping for the phrase "tea towel" I resorted to "wipey thing for plates". How does one forget the phrase "tea towel"? But I did. Tragedy comes in many forms. Partly perhaps this is the result of my own particular cognitive challenges. There were bound to be some. But I don't have to accept them without a fight.
But this unreliability of our internal dictionaries should not deter us from trying should it! Those neural paths across the landscape of our vocabulary if not regularly trodden become obscured by undergrowth. Our daily dialogues begin to be constructed clumsily from easily accessible but inaccurate nouns and adjectives; Words that merely suffice and yet do not accurately describe. The use of the exact word is a small triumph that leaves satisfaction in its wake. A cobbled-together approximation leaves a kind of existential unease even if meaning has been adequately conveyed
I have nothing to say but this really: Use it or lose it. Really, it is as simple as that.
So, freely I fling words on to this page: Hyposthesis! Innate! Limpid! Picaresque! Ossified!
There! I feel better already.
Please note: There is no imperative to ready anything I write here. I am under no illusion any of it has significance beyond allowing the caged greyhound of my brain some escape to race unfettered upon the heathland of language. Significance or clarity of concept might occasionally emerge but it will have been largely accidental and incidental to the purpose of the exercise.
Well, that's a start. I feel better already. Perhaps I'll try to do some more tomorrow. I think it's due to rain so I won't have much on. See you then maybe.
