We don’t have enough appreciation for words. Or to be more specific, we take words for granted. Every day of our lives is flooded with words. Words we say, words we hear, words we read, words we think. We are exposed to such a perpetual, overwhelming torrent of words, through social media, books, conversations, the internet, TV, and basically every other component of our daily lives that our vocabulary becomes instinctual. Words are such a basic component of human existence that it’s really no surprise that the concept of vocabulary tends to fade into a shadowy corner of our consciousness.
Even the mention of the word ‘vocabulary’ takes us back to our elementary school days, when learning vocabulary was at best, a tedious, and at worst, despised, and in either case, a useless one. And despite a seemingly innocent beginning, we carry this attitude of contempt and disdain towards learning new words with us into adulthood. It’s hard to see a tangible benefit in expanding our vocabulary, so we allow ourselves to be satisfied with an essentially fixed set of words at our disposal, and go on with our lives.
However, I believe that we shouldn’t let expanding vocabulary, which shapes our thoughts, our ideas, and our opinions, become a passive endeavor. Words are the only tool we have to explore our existence. How can we hope to be able to express ourselves, to create meaning, in the hopelessly inexplicable world we live in when we are content to let the only means we have to do that become a second priority or no priority at all?
This may seem overly nerdy, but I find words fascinating. I even keep a list of my favorite words, adding to it as I come across new ones. In every word I catch a glimpse into a small, little infinity: the emotions it arises, its connotation, how it differs subtly from a similar word, every single thought to which it might contribute. Compound that with every word you know and every word you don’t, with words that you don’t even know exist, describing things you never knew could be described. To quote Ross Geller, with whom I share more commonalities than I care to mention, “the mind boggles.”
And if I’ve come across at all pretentious throughout this discourse, know that it was quite intentional. After all, what sort of ‘word-ly’ scholar would I be if I didn’t try to act by the principles that I encourage others to follow. I challenge everyone to take a page out of Ted Mosby’s book (another of my fictional idols) and embrace your inner pretentiousness every once in a while. Flex your vocabulary muscles and use words like idiosyncratic, sardonic, iniquitous, or duplicitous (to name a few of my personal favorites), and maybe even develop an appreciation for the multitudinous intricacies of words.