Recently, in The Valley Business Journal, I described three major components of “classical education,” one of them being the intense focus on language arts or the use of the written and spoken word.
A colleague and I have been lamenting over the fact that we, as a society, have lost the art of “wordsmithing” or being skilled in the use of words.
Similar to “fast food” we have moved to “fast communication,” sacrificing what used to be a robust and fluent English vocabulary. For example, read the Declaration of Independence or the Gettysburg Address. That is wordsmithing!
We casually say words like “love,” “hate,” “need,” and more without really thinking about what we are saying because they provide quick retorts or declarations. We do this because we have become lackadaisical in our speech. We are shallow in our communication. We have forgotten that the use of words is an art and they are a demonstration of our intellect.
It reminds me of my elementary school years when I would say something like, “I love that car!” and my friend would reply, “Well if you love it, why don’t you marry it?” While annoying, he made a good point. Did I really “love” the car?
CS Lewis once said, “Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very;’ otherwise you have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.” In other words, don’t say “love” when you really mean “like,” because when you do want to express true love, it has lost all meaning.
Please know, I do not mean to be overly critical or judgmental nor do I want a world of logophiles; and I am among the worst offenders in this area! I have even stooped to using emoticons to save time.
My intent is to encourage us all to rekindle the “art of wordsmithing” because our words are a reflection of how deeply, or shallowly, we think as individuals and as a society, and I want others to see us as the great society that we are.
Scott Phillips, J.D. is the CEO and Headmaster for Heritage Classical Charter Schools/Temecula
Preparatory School. Twitter: @ https://twitter.com/Scott_HCCS