Letters to the Editor

Words are important

Words are important. They can be as significant as actions, even more so.
Words can inspire, enrich and transform. They can also hurt, shame and inflame.

Those who have enriched their vocabulary by reading or by being around people who use expressive language appreciate the power of words. Children who grow up in households which have an extensive vocabulary or speak more than one language are more likely to want to use words creatively. 

My family always used correct English and adequate vocabulary but they were not necessarily readers. I acquired my love for language in high school where I had excellent teachers who required extensive reading and writing. In English, we read classical and modern literature and were required to analyze what we read.

Learning a foreign language, especially one as beautiful as French, enhanced my love of language, inspiring me to use new vocabulary to express myself.

The history of western civilization is replete with great orators. 

There have been several presidents who have been known for their eloquence in oral or written form: Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and, in more modern times, John F. Kennedy. Other leaders known for their motivational and inspiring words are Martin Luther King Jr. and Billy Graham. Perhaps the most famous speaker of all, who led his people during World War II when Britain stood alone against the Axis powers, was Winston Churchill. His writings were as famous as his speeches, winning him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953.

One of my pet peeves is people who use other people’s words to express ideas which are clearly not theirs, and ones they often do not fully understand. If used politically these words have a stinging effect. This has been happening a lot in politics, particularly this last decade. Words like woke, alt-right, gaslight, takers, rhetoric, fascism, Antifa. These words and others like them inflame individuals and can lead them to act aggressively. They motivate in a negative way.

I find that using acronyms can be irritating also because they can make others feel ignorant if they do not know what the initials stand for: SCOTUS, POTUS, ASAP, LMK, EOB, WFH. Acronyms are used to make communication go more quickly, but need to be part of shared communication. Otherwise, they can be intimidating.

We can use words that divide us or we can use words that bring our community closer together. These words must be our own words and they must be sincere.

Lynn Lorenz

Newport Beach