I also collect words. In my younger days I made a living as a journalist. Words were my toolbox. I love words. Words have meaning, contrary to the current cultural attitude. There are so many good and effective words. A plethora of words to articulate our ruminations. It is a shame that we have abandoned the wealth and precision of words when opinion has decided definition. Sloppy propagandizing of the language has emerged to delude us from reality. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
We swim in a river of words…in writing, in speaking, in thinking. The power of language is the invisible adhesive of civilization. Humankind has long demanded that words have meaning and that meaning is absolute and not subject to one’s viewpoint. To quote Ayn Rand, “A is A.” Sadly, we find ourselves in an Orwellian world of shifting and slippery language nuances that are constructed to fit someone’s agendas. “It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.”
The greater problem is that we are mostly defenseless against this high jacking of meaning. The very idea of this United States emerged from the Founders’ clear-minded, articulate, and precise use of language. The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution were not word salads. We grow increasingly defenseless as subsequent generations are not taught to think.