Words - betrayed, but still beautiful

So, it's a new year. Wordly Explorations is still holding on, though with a heavy heart. 

In the chaos of contemporary politics, it is the betrayal of words, and then of people through these injured words, that particularly weighs on me. Do people who lie so readily, who misuse and abuse words to advance their personal power, who aim to obfuscate using words that were entrusted with complex and hopeful concepts... do they not appreciate the beauty of language at all? 

Today I read a review of a book, supposedly for children, that presents the most beautiful love letter to words themselves. I felt joy that, yes, many people continue to find words themselves beautiful and mystical and worthy of deep attention. 

While I gather my thoughts to continue the Smart series, I want to reproduce that book review in toto. I do hope the author, Maria Popova of The Marginalian, understands my need to do so. And if you enjoy this review, consider subscribing to her wonderful blog; it's full of interesting and beautiful books described through careful, thoughtful and gentle words.

Below is the full text taken from https://www.themarginalian.org/2025/02/04/the-wordy-book-julie-paschkis/ 

So she didn't

So much advice about writing urges routine, persistence and 'turning up'. No advice says what to do when the rest of life takes over, other than getting up at 4am to make more time to write. If that's what it takes, it makes you wonder if you really are a writer.

Lately, I've had to concentrate on sleeping when I can, especially at 4am. So, not much writing, but I believe I can. 

Bonus for you: you can also rest!

Source

Nervous - not writing

So, I'm feeling a bit nervous right now. Probably from #2 and #3, but not from #1 unfortunately. About that I'm feeling torn. 

But there are times in life when you can't do what you most want to do.

Source

Language - falling off the bars

Source

By now, you can no doubt tell a bit about what I like from the topics I write about.

I love words. I relish language. I eat metaphors for breakfast. And I believe you can never have enough cartoons.

So, instead of the regular post, I bring you a state of Wordly Explorations - with words, language, metaphor and cartoon.

This toon by SMCB is one of my favourites. It says everything I've tried to say in my thousands of words, ridiculously long posts and endless series. Only considerably more nimbly and gracefully, which is appropriate given the content of the cartoon.

As SMBC says, 'Language is like gymnastics' (simile, sure, not metaphor, but good enough when you're pressed for time) works for the conflicting prescriptivist, descriptivist and pragmatist perspectives. That's a simile doing overtime!

Language is like gymnastics. There are rules and standards and those who fail to follow them should be chastised.

Language is like gymnastics! There are lots of forms and none is preferable to any other.

Language is like gymnastic. There isn't a best gymnastics, but most of you are really, really shitty at gymnastics.

I agree with all that, but today I have a different take. Let's call it the language 'performativist' perspective.

Language is like gymnastics. There's performance anxiety; there's pain and sometimes injury in the process of nailing the 'position' you are working on. 

It's hard to focus on your goal on the parallel bars, when you can't even get to the gym due to everything else happening in your life. The coach yells at you about discipline and dedication, but gymnastics is not the only thing in your life. It's not dedication you lack, but days with more than 24 hours!

Sometimes, despite trying your best, you just lose your grip, miss the bar, and you don't get a post written. 

Source: Laura Sweet

Your eyes go wide, you feel fear as you realise what is about to happen, then you fall down hard on your backside.

You get up, and things are still okay.

And you take another run up and hope you'll get it next time.

Words - inexhaustible explorations

Source

I love these words from Albus Dumbledore (from Michael Gambon's Deathly Hallows: Part 2).

To me, words truly do seem an inexhaustible source of magic, wondering and exploration. 

In contrast, I am entirely exhaustible. My writing plans have been swamped with other things and my energy and time are finite. 

Post-truth and truth have been way bigger explorations that I anticipated (and will ever attempt again - please remind me!) The end of the year has arrived well before I have explored all I wanted to about these two words. Still to come are two posts on the fit, usefulness, awareness and need for the house construction metaphor for truth, which will explore what we might be able to do with a better metaphor.

But, next year, after some R&R. 

Wordly Explorations will pick up again in February 2022, covid-willing.

 

Email subscription ending

Hello Wordly Explorations email subscribers

In the near future, this blog platform is turning off the capacity to use your email address to automatically generate emails notifying you of each new post.

For now, I will manage emails for each post manually, while I think about the best option to replace this system without selling my soul or inflicting advertising on readers (because you already KNOW how much I loathe advertising!). I understand, for some, email is the best way to manage your reading, so I will keep it up as long as I can.

Another option for you to see the posts might be to follow Wordly Explorations on Facebook. 

Burdened - writing the load off

This month marks two years of Wordly Explorations. A time for review. 

Last year pushed many of us to consider what we were filling our lives with and why. What are we doing with our precious finite time on earth? Are we relishing and honoring all that life offers? Are we exploring the vast richness of our physical, emotional, aesthetic and intellectual experiences? Are we honestly facing our challenges, and supporting others through theirs? Are we doing anything meaningful?

And for me: is writing a blog the right thing to be doing at this time in history? In what way does the blog contribute to the world? 

It was a weighty question and played on my mind over many months. 

With this in the background, I read Susan Sontag's 1966 Against Interpretation and Other Essays. I was struck with new ideas from these 60-year-old essays. I sorted out a few puzzles, found a new perspective on topics I struggle with, and cheered her underlying argument: how we use words can either open or close our eyes to the wonderful complexity of the world. 

In short, I experienced what I hoped my exploration of words and the world might provide for readers: maybe a new perspective, perhaps a pause to reflect on how we use words, and even occasionally, some new ideas.

Happy exploring until next year

Well, it's been a year! Sometimes, it's been a bit difficult to keep writing or to even justify writing as things go nuts all around the world. 

But for me, exploring words is always an exploration of the world (and vice versa). When things are strange or scary, that exploration can provide a moment of respite, a moment of clarity (hopefully), and a moment of amazement at the incredible phenomenon that is communicating and making meaning with words. 

I'm taking a break for the next month, but until then happy exploring! 

Wordly Explorations manifesto

Welcome to Wordly Explorations, a blog exploring how humans use, misuse and sometimes abuse everyday words. There's so much to explore!

For a text version of the Wordly Explorations manifesto, read the first post Introducing Wordly Explorations.

Admin message - changes are afoot

The break provided the opportunity to have a good, long, hard look at the writing so far to see if it was something to continue, and to decide what to keep doing and what to change.

The good news is that the blog is a 'going thing'. The focus will expand, but it will still be all about words. It will just be more obviously about what humans do with words, since that is where the writing has migrated anyway.

Changes are afoot

(What a strange word 'afoot' is. It would be nice to see it more often though.)

In other news, there will be changes to the design, the format, and the frequency of posts.

The blog aims and motivations are updated in the blog manifesto.

Here's cheers to the clarity that a year of writing has allowed.

Stay tuned for more news!

Admin message Xmas 2019

Hello fellow Wordly Explorers

We've taking a short break from posting to consider the blog, what we might keep doing, what we might change, to talk with some interested writers, and also to have a little refresh. 

If you're taking a break now too, we hope it is full of wonderful words. 

Introducing Wordly Explorations

Welcome to the first post of Wordly Explorations.

What is Wordly Explorations about? 

This blog is about humans and how they use words. It explores everyday words to see how well they serve us, what the use of those words tells us about ourselves and our society, and whether some words are loaded with problematic concepts or interpretations.

It looks at the way we use words to make sense of the world, to sort out our ideas, to share our thoughts with others, as well as whether the words we use make this easier or harder, clearer or messier.

The blog delves beneath the everyday words we use to their origins, changes, value-loading, use, misuse and sometimes abuse. This often starts with linguistics, but also takes us into psychology, sociology, culture and philosophy - each of which can tell us something about ourselves.

Words reveal our hang-ups, biases, fears, humour, aspriations, needs, reasoning, way of organising information about the world, social structures, ideas, values and our interpersonal connections.

Each Wordly Exploration post aims to find a small nugget of clarity amongst of our word-filled days.

One word at a time.

Are words really that important?

Okay, so what really matters are the ideas underneath our words, the assumptions that words are built upon, and the way we hold our ideas about the world all together.

Snipped from the socials, see the postscript.

But here’s the thing - we can only form and communicate these ideas with words. Words are the vehicle for our ideas, our reasoning, and an important way we connect with others. Without words, there is no way to sort out a messy or confused idea, no way to make sense of the complexity of the world, no way to be precise and clear about what we want and think.

Therefore, our choice of words - our precision in what we say - is the most important thing for conveying our ideas successfully. Words allow us to share what’s in our heads with others and to understand others’ ideas and thoughts.

Unfortunately, so often words are inadequate for the task. Words end up loaded up with the ambivalences and contradictions of our thinking. Words change meaning based on how we use them. Words hold room for misunderstanding, assumed-but-lacking understanding, and lots of rubbish talking. A stupid idea is still stupid despite being all dressed up in fancy words.

But a useful idea is no value at all if it can’t be communicated to others.

So, we realise that words are imperfect vehicles for our thoughts and ideas. But this does not mean we should just be sloppy about our choice of words. The words we use can do a better or poorer job of helping us think clearly and communicate our ideas.

Democratic society requires a healthy, functioning civil discourse. Civil discourse rests on interpersonal communication, through the vehicle of our words.

Here’s my riff on the famous saying: The price of freedom is eternal vigilance about words and how we use them.

Words are how we think about the world, reason, justify, explain, persuade, encourage, motivate and provide support to others.

If you want to tackle injustice and problems, clear and precise words are even more critical.

You may be wanting to take action about things that matter to you: you might be thinking that it’s time to protest, agitate, or dismantle the state.

By all means do that.

However, if your actions and your aims are based on flawed or simplistic thinking about the way the world is, you may be ineffectual or ignored, or do more harm than good.

Thinking and talking clearly about what is happening, why you are motivated to act, and what you want instead - all of this requires careful and precise word use.

I don’t think there are times when words cease to be really important.

Who are you writing for?

I am writing for people who enjoy exploring words and ideas and thinking about why our society is the way it is.

Snipped from the socials, no source

Readers need to be willing to step through my wordly explorations, and willing to review their own assumptions and thinking, their way of organising what they think, and sometimes even look at their own underlying needs and vulnerabilities.

So, I am writing for people brave enough to entertain ideas that feel uncomfortable and to loosen their grip on feeling definite and certain about words and ideas. Never underestimate the rarity and value of such bravery!

Why are the posts so ... wordly?

I explore words to look for understanding about human society. I write seeking clarity, complexity and coherence.

I want to understand why words can be so potent, whether words are the reason that certain strange or flawed ideas gain strong traction, what is it about humanity and the way we all think and talk that makes the world the way it is. I am interested in the big picture of how our words influence the ways we participate in our society and culture.

Small problem though: this topic is very big. Every small question about one tiny aspect of how words are used in our society is massive and complicated.

I want to push back against simplistic and flawed ideas about 'why the world is this way' and superficial ideas of how things 'should be’.

So, I use long form writing. Exploring ‘how the world is’ is not easy, quick or brief. You can expect posts of about 2000 to 3000 words. However, the posts are not always serious… human needs and foibles can be discovered through explorations of funny things we say. Where I can use them, I find diagrams help communicate concepts better than long form writing sometimes.

So, get comfortable, get ready to be uncomfortable, and make time for a long read.

What motivates you to write about word?

I love words and language. Some blogs will be entertaining for fellow word nerds. The imperfect nature of words as our vehicle for communication can be funny as well as infuriating.

But words are also like artefacts of human culture and behaviour that we can pick up and examine.

I am interested in what the way we use words and tells us about humans and about society.

When a particular word scratches my attention, I write about it to find the source of the prickly feeling and see if I can soothe that itch. I start each post with a question about a particular word and then unpick, explore and ponder it. I am not an expert; I don't have THE answers. In fact, sometimes, I end up with more questions.

Words are also tools that we humans use to make sense of ourselves and what we experience and to fumble our way through the messy complexity that is our world.

I are fascinated that we humans so often go out of their way to avoid messy reality. Words are our ‘in’ to this tendency, and how and why humans try to avoid facing complex ideas and problems.

Our western culture makes it easy to avoid complexity, contradiction and discomfort. We are encouraged to retreat to our individualist cocoons, float along in a hedonistic haze, opt out entirely, or comfort ourselves with nostalgia for a past that never really was.

I enjoy looking at how we use words, particularly when we can illuminate the confusion and the contradiction that makes up human culture and try to grapple with the world as it is: complex, awe inspiring, mind boggling, messy, and humility inducing.

Finally, words are tools that can be used against us, used to defraud us. At the personal level, sometimes the discussion around a topic can becomes clouded with emotionally loaded words, and our thinking and communication can stall through lack of useful and clarifying alternatives. At the broadest level, propaganda or deliberately slippery, shoddy words can be used by people in power to trick, distract or disempower us.

Wordly Explorations is driven by passion about words, exploring words to seek clarity about ‘what is’, and why ‘what otherwise might be’ is not.

Luckily this means there is an endless number of topics to explore.

Source 

Each post, we might examine:

• words as the vehicle we use to think, reason and communicate complex ideas - by examining words we can be clearer and more precise in our thinking communication with others
• words as artefacts of human society - by exploring how words are used, we can understand better understand the human world
• words as tools we use - by being thoughtful in how we construct and use words, we can have impact the human world
• words as tools that can be used against us - by being vigilant to the misuse and abuse of words, we can become more purposeful and intentional actors on our various temporary stages of life and avoid being the props or background in someone else's play. 

With words as our vehicle, artefacts and tools, we humans create a coherent sense of ourselves and our world. Our words allow us to reflect on, integrate and share our experiences and our understanding. Our words allow us to impact the world.

This blog is about choosing the best words for the job! 

Postscript

Just wondering: Did Stealers Wheel come up with the famous quote above?

It's a bit hard to read, but a version of this saying was written on back of their first album released in 1972 album.

"We know that you believe you understand what you think we said, but we are not sure you realize that what you heard is not what we meant." 

No one really knows for sure.

Anyway, we'd rather be 'stuck in the middle with you' Stealers Wheel than any of the various other people who have been given the credit for this clever saying.