“Say what you mean, and mean what you say. If you don’t know what you mean, be quiet and think about it.” Melody Beattie
How often do you really listen to what’s being said, or even what you are saying? It’s easy to pick up words we hear often and begin using them without exploring the real meanings, and deciding if that is what we really want to say. Then too, the word police are everywhere, and more than willing to enforce their own standards on all of us. A college student was removed from class for his own safety. He inadvertently used the wrong pronoun when referring to a classmate, and retaliation was threatened so the instructor intervened and gave him a day pass.
English is difficult for people from other countries to learn because we have so many different meanings for the same words, and many are spelled the same but pronounced differently, according to context. Read and read; spelled the same, pronunciation and meaning different. Seen and scene; pronounced same, spelling and meaning different. Additionally, we keep changing things up. When I was in school, we were reprimanded for saying someone pleaded guilty.” PLED!” we were told. “If you cut your finger, would you have bleeded?” I haven’t heard “pled” in years. Why the changes, and who decided?
When new meanings are assigned to everyday expressions, we don’t get told. We’re just supposed to know, and adjust our speech to the latest definitions. Used to be, you woke up in the morning. Nowadays, woke has a totally different use, and if you aren’t woke you are a zero. At least I think zero still means nothing—who knows for sure?
“Sustainable” has taken on a new slant. Something is only sustainable if it fits the agenda of climate change enthusiasts.
Equity, and equality are very different, but the woke culture wants you to believe they are the same, so the two are used interchangeably. In simple terms, equity means everyone gets a trophy, even if they didn’t enter the race. There will be no valedictorian or honor roll because someone’s feeling might be hurt.
Equality is when everyone has an equal opportunity to build on his or her own skill set, acquire a promotion, or be recognized for excellence. A good teacher might tell a parent that the student got a C because he is not working up to his potential.
One of my children slid by with mediocrity for several years until a teacher sat him down and said, “You’re smarter than this, and I expect to see you on the honor roll from now on.” And thereafter, the kid was. That child had begun as an A student, but in fourth grade it all fell apart. There were conferences with the teacher, recriminations at home, and all manner of discussions, but nothing helped. Next year, different teacher. I asked how he liked her. “Fine,” he said. “She calls me by my name. Last year, the teacher called me careless, and got all the kids to do it too.” But the damage had been done; he never worked up to his potential again until high school, when another teacher cared enough to intervene.
Words matter. Use them carefully and thoughtfully. Mean what you say, and know what you mean.
Meet me here next week and meanwhile do your best. Somebody might like it.