On Word Choice

[MstrTal]

Morning, or evening depending on what side of the world your on I guess.

I was just reading another post and had one of my interesting thoughts and figured it might make a decent discussion post. In it another member asked about the use of a word and the response given was . . .

Yes, *****, you're right.

Pedants, such as what I am, insist on its being "alternative" as in one of two or more possibilities, or available as another choice, as opposed to "alternate" which means every other or every second item eg they meet on alternate days.

However as my trusty dictionary says:
Quote:
The use of alternate to mean alternative, as in we will need to find alternate sources of fuel is common in North America, and many dictionaries now record the two as simply variants of one another. The Oxford English Corpus records a quarter of all uses in this sense using the spelling alternate. It is, however, still regarded as incorrect by many people in Britain.

Now I took it from that thread so as not to clutter up the other thread with something off tangent and I hope I do not offend anyone by doing so.

Here is my discussion point. While I am from the US and thus by this definition a North American and likely to use "Alternate" over "Alternative" when I used it in the thread this was taken from I think it had less to do with regional prediction and more to do with something else.

Now the term slips my sleep addled mind at he moment but it has to do with choosing terms based on the amount of "baggage" they bring with them. Granted this is of course subjective so bare with me but "Alternative" (and I guess this could be regional) is often used in conjunction with such statements or terms as "Alternative Lifestyle".

Its kind of like choosing a word for the imagery it invokes in the reader. If you choose "Graveyard" it brings to mind a completely different mental atmosphere than "Cemetery" thus bring with it different mental baggage even though both words technically mean the same thing. A place to inter the dead in the ground.

So on to the discussion point of the thread. How do you choose words. Do you pick your words in the hopes of evoking a certain mental imagery or do you just write what comes to mind? Do you ever search out new words because what you are using lacks the right "flavor?" This goes for everything you right not just in your stories but forum posts and the like. Have you ever read something and realized that the words chosen by the writer conveyed something other than the authors intent?

Also if by posting a quote out of context from another thread I have stepped on anyone's toes I apologize. I also blame it on sever Adult ADD.

 

[Mouse]

This makes me think of 'Alternate Title.' Micky Dolenz's alternative title for 'Randy Scouse Git' after realising the American translation was 'Horny Liverpudlian Jerk.'

Yes, I love the Monkees.

As to your question, I just write down whatever word's in my head at the time. I might change it later if I have a better one. Sometimes some words do 'feel' better than others.

 

[chrispenycate]

Words evolve with time, and do so at different rates in different strata of society as well as geographically separated points. Words like "prioritise" spontaneously come into being, "quark" or "laser" are required to describe a hitherto unnecessary concept, "robot" is imported from a foreign language, and "momentarily" loses its extremely temporary status.

This is essential to keep a language living; something like classical Arabic, rejecting all words not included in the Coran, absolutely needs a vernacular containing words like "computer", "television" and "bulldozer", otherwise its primary function, that of communicating concepts, is so truncated that it can almost be considered destroyed.

But the pedants, in whose number I proudly declare myself, are important too. If language can evolve uncontrolled, mutually incomprehensible dialects develop: you've only got to listen to a youth gang on LA streets to understand that. Or, more likely, despite knowing most of the elements that went into the mix, not understand anything much.

Geekspeak is inevitable within a speciality, but pedants must do their best to slow the osmotic process until the mass of the population have absorbed enough of the new terms to recognise the direction in which a conversation is going, at the very least.

Not that that makes me, personally, easy to understand. But the words I use are unlikely to be new, untested. I choose them very carefully, not only for emotional baggage, but rhythm, music; and this in conversation as well as posts, and writing fiction.

 

[Nik]

IMHO, you also have a related issue, that of repeating yourself without good cause. This is where a good fund of synonyms and their ilk is essential. eg I changed 'looking around' to 'looking about' because, a dozen words further on, there were students and nurses 'sitting around on the lawn'...

 

[The Judge]

... if by posting a quote out of context from another thread I have stepped on anyone's toes I apologize. I also blame it on sever Adult ADD.

No toes stepped on, but never forget to credit your sources...

Anyhow, I agree with Chris. The great strength of English is that it is fully alive and not a fossilised language from which new words are banned. That is also its weakness, though, since any ignoramus can use a word incorrectly and, upon being corrected, will denounce pedants as people with Little Englander mentalities. A verb such as "to prioritise" created out of what originally would have been "to make [something] a priority" is an example of a living, muscular language producing what it needs. Taking a legitimate word with a clear meaning and using it wrongly eg "she flaunted the rules" instead of "she flouted the rules" ** is wrong and should be denounced at every opportunity until ignorance, carelessness and couldn't-care-less-ness are wholly eradicated. (If need be by eradicating those who use words wrongly. Pass me the Kalashnikov, Chris.)

As for picking the right words, frankly, anyone who doesn't think about the right words when coming to edit/revise his/her work shouldn't be doing the job. (First drafts are different, though even then my feeling is we should be training ourselves to reach for the perfect word not an easier/commoner synonym.) One should choose words not only as to their meaning (which I hope everyone here does) but also as to nuance and association, rhythm and assonance (as Chris says, "music") and -- as Mouse so rightly says -- feel, which is perhaps a combination of all of them. And yes, I often hunt down words so as to get the right word in the right line.

Long Live Le Mot Juste! (We ought to have a badge made with that on it.)



** In which respect, around 20% of the uses of "flaunt" in the Oxford English Corpus are incorrect -- not so far from the alternate/alternative problem.

 

[Chel]

I strive to ... no, I aspire to! one day be able to pick and use the exactly right words to convey what I'm trying to say.

As someone with English as her third language, though, I have to be very careful. If I'm the least bit uncertain about a word and all its possible meanings, I have to find another word to use.

I'm very guilty of what The Judge said; I use words that come to me easily, especially when I get in the groove and the words just start appearing on the paper/screen on a direct line from idea to prose, bypassing meddling thoughts. However, I try to be a lot more word-conscious on my first read-through, and that's when I start thinking about finding the perfect word for any given situation.

It's funny, though, that I write easier and faster in English than in my first language. It's as if my imagination only works in English nowadays, probably thanks to Internet, movies and books. I do use my first language in day-to-day communication - at work, with family and friends and so on, and I use it well; but it takes me longer to write something in that language than it would had I written it in English.

Still, I try to use the best word I know to write what I want to say, regardless of the medium.

 

[MstrTal]

Wonderful conversation everyone!

And The Judge I apologize I really should know better than to forget to cite source material.

Now if I could only remember the proper term for <takes a deep breath> when one word evokes one set of mental imagery versus another word that evokes another set of mental imagery even though both words literally mean the same thing. It is driving me to the edge of insanity!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

But synonyms rarely (if ever) mean exactly the same thing. That's why choosing the right word is so important -- and why so many writers get in trouble if they rely too heavily on a Thesaurus!

Also, using a word that has the specific meaning we have in mind can cut down on the wordiness, because we use one term to say what it would otherwise take many words to explain.

And words can have emotional impact. Words that are too general and fuzzy can trivialize what ought to be momentous events in a story and create characters whose emotions appear tepid at best.

(Oh ... and is the word you are searching for in this case connotation?)

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

And in poetry not only do you have to worry about imagery and emotion, but you have to choose such words that will not break rhythym or style, which can make it doubly frustrating when writing poetry. In my opinion, word choice is the hardest part about poetry....

 

[MstrTal]

(Oh ... and is the word you are searching for in this case connotation?)

Thank You! Yes Connotation. Hence why I was trying to avoid using the word synonym. As with my example of Graveyard versus Cemetery.

A Graveyard caries with it certain emotional connotation and mental imagery when used that is often lacking with the more sterile and proper cemetery.

For instance in stories with graveyards you are liable to find withered trees, low lying or clinging fog, old tombstones and a sense of age and all the baggage such evokes. Whereas when cemetery is used often headstone is used as is clean sunlit lawns and stately funerals. Each bare their own connotation and stigma.

Oh how I love this forum!

 

[slack]

I focus on word choice on later drafts, keeping in mind how the sound of the new word affects the rhythm of the sentence. Sometimes I deliberately try to create a subtle impression through word choice. For example, if one of my characters was seedy and snake-like I might hunt for words which bring that association to mind, words that have a lot of s sounds. That part of revision is what I enjoy most.

Regarding 'graveyard' vs. 'cemetery', it might also come down to the individual word parts; grave and yard. It makes me think of dirt and weeds. 'Cemetery' doesn't have the same kind of effect.

 

[STING]

This is essential to keep a language living; something like classical Arabic, rejecting all words not included in the Coran.....

Just curious.

Chris, did you spell Coran this way deliberately? I thought Coran is rarely spelt this way, the more common spellings being Koran or Quran.

 

[The Judge]

A Graveyard caries with it certain emotional connotation and mental imagery when used that is often lacking with the more sterile and proper cemetery.

Regarding 'graveyard' vs. 'cemetery', it might also come down to the individual word parts; grave and yard... 'Cemetery' doesn't have the same kind of effect.

And what you are both picking up are the roots of the language. Grave and yard are both Old English of Germanic origin, the kind of words that peasants have spoken for thousands of years. Cemetary is a more recent introduction to English from the Latin and Greek, so is the language used by the educated in previous centuries. The words have retained the differences between the earthy and the elite, which circumscribes the way we react to the words themselves.

Never underestimate the power of the mainly one-syllable Anglo-Saxon words -- when Churchill wrote "We shall fight them on the beaches..." most of the words he used are the English of our peasant forebears and the speech grips us, pulling at our hearts and guts. However, utilising lengthy, latinate expressions is a cerebral exercise and the prose is consequentially difficult to engage with on a visceral level.

Oh how I love this forum!

And so say all of us!

 

[Ursa major]

Never underestimate the power of the mainly one-syllable Anglo-Saxon words -- when Churchill wrote "We shall fight them on the beaches..." most of the words he used are the English of our peasant forebears and the speech grips us, pulling at our hearts and guts. However, utilising lengthy, latinate expressions is a cerebral exercise and the prose is consequentially difficult to engage with on a visceral level.

Indeed.

A few years back, there was a programme on Radio Four about the use of anglo-saxon words in literature. Assuming - and given the content of the programme, I think it's safe to do so - that this wasn't said as a joke**, the writer identified as depending more on simple anglo-saxon in his writing than any other was the Nobel laureate, Harold Pinter.



** - Pinter was a famous user of "anglo-saxon", in its sense of a euphemism for words said to be of a particular length (above three and below five letters). I've seen at least one letter to the Guardian from him where he didn't temper his use of "anglo-saxon" while calling for the parties in whatever political dispute had got him overexcited to calm down and talk sense to each other.

 

[RJM Corbet]

On foreign origin of English words, here's a BUSHism: The French don't even have a WORD for 'entrepreneur'...

 

[Kyndylan]

This reminded me to a certain extent of this article from Slate, the subtitle of which is "How long should we cling to a word's original meaning?"

I was interested to see how many "new" definitions, which are technically "incorrect", were the ones that I understood the word to mean.

For example, 94% of people think disinterested means "uninterested," although it's original meaning is actually "impartial."

Anyway, the article's more interesting than I am, so go read it, and see how well you do...

 

[RJM Corbet]

What about 'gay'?

Nevertheless that's the beauty of language. 'Fate' and 'destiny' mean the same thing, but in slightly different ways. You can change your fate, but not your destiny. 'Graveyard' and 'cemetery' have a slightly different feel and texture. I think The Judge has pinned it down. These posts are a good word exercise. You write it, you have one hour to edit, and then your words are fixed for all time. You may be famous after you're dead.

I still love Shaekespeare. Here's a passage from 'The Taming of the Shrew' where Hortensio re-enters after trying to give Kate (the shrew) a lute playing lesson:

And with that word she struck me on the head,
And through the instrument my pate made way,
And there I stood amazed for a while,
As on a pillory, looking through the lute,
While she did call me rascal, fiddler,
And twangling jack, with twenty such vile terms,
As had she studied to misuse me so ...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Choosing the right words is particularly important in dialogue, since the words that characters use to express themselves can tell so much about their beliefs and attitudes -- just the little shades of meaning can make a huge difference.

And particularly if you are writing a period piece, because the thought patterns and worldview of any particular era shapes and is shaped by the language. For instance, people who were much concerned with keeping their self respect cared nothing at all about maintaining high self esteem. And if you put the latter phrase into the mouths of characters living two or three centuries ago, they would be reflecting a whole set of ideas that had not yet come into being.