Words. It’s what I do. Without them, well, I would not have a column. Unless I decided to draw something each week, and that’s not anything readers really want to see. I’ve talked about words that bother me, but there are also words I’m just tired of hearing (nasty, incredible, huge, loser, best, repudiate). Our language has so many beautiful words, but for some reason, I just don’t use them. It may be because I’m not sure how to pronounce them. I don’t want to mangle them and sound like a loser. But I don’t care anymore! I’m going to make my vocabulary beautiful, and I hope you will join me. Oh, and if you hear me mispronounce a word, feel free to correct me.
Panacea is not to be confused with pancetta. Both are great in their own way! Perhaps I will use them in one sentence. The pancetta was not the panacea for the bland-tasting pasta Myra served for dinner. That sounds so much better than: Myra’s pasta tasted gross. You could have the same confusion with sangria and sanguine. Though truth be told, if you drank enough sangria, you would have a very sanguine outlook on life.
Fetching is a word that is woefully underused. During my lifetime, I’ve been called cute, occasionally pretty and maybe even charming, but I can’t remember a time someone called me fetching. Back in the day, if a guy had thrown in a ‘comely’ or a ‘becoming,’ it’s likely I would have paid for all the beer during our date.
Is there anyone that doesn’t want to meet their confidante for an illicit tête-à-tête? That sounds much more exciting than meeting a friend for a cup of coffee at 4 p.m., especially when you know drinking coffee that late in the day will keep you up all night. I have always wanted to be a wayfarer. The word means nothing more than traveler or tourist, but when you say it, it sounds much more adventurous, like Indiana Jones. Though I’m thinking Indiana probably doesn’t spend as much time in Florida sitting on the beach as I do.
For whatever reason, the letter ‘l’ seems to have the very best words. Think about lilt, lithe, lissome and luxuriant. All seem to conjure up someone very graceful, perhaps a fairy princess dancing around her kingdom. Hmm. Maybe I don’t use those words very often because I don’t know very many princesses. Regardless, I like the way they sound. If you can use the word lithe to describe me, you get extra credit.
Finally, my favorite word is family. Yes, you can roll your eyes now if you want to, but that’s the truth. When I hear the word family, I think of all the weird characters that make up mine, and I’m grateful. Sure, there are moments when I would like to trade one in for a different model, but most of the time, I like them just the way they are.
There are so many words that I didn’t even get to mention: supine, elixir, ripple, serendipity, plethora, iridescent. And you likely have a list of your own. Even if there is a chance you might mispronounce one, go ahead and use it! Make your conversation a bit more beautiful today.
Contact Patty at phannum@townandstyle.com.
