\u201cThe pen is mightier than the sword,\u201d I heard, and throughout my life this always sounded stupid to me. While some intellectual fool is over in the corner writing angry letters, a crazy fool can just come up from behind and stab you! It wasn\u2019t until I did some actual reading that I learned what the phrase actually meant. Throughout history, communication, words, and language have been much better tools for a society than war and violence.
\nAs our world grows, so does our language. New words become part of the culture. Initialism words like LOL and OMG were such a hit in the text boom of the early 21st<\/sup> century, you can hear people say these phrases out loud.
\nThe other day, a tourist asked me to take his photo. After viewing the picture, the tourist smiled and told me my work was dank<\/em>! I felt bad and offered to take a better photo. Apparently, what I thought meant damp, musty, and overall unpleasant actually meant great. He thanked me and went on his way. Words and their meanings sometimes just have no rules.
\nWhether a conversation at the lunch table or when meeting a brand new customer, it\u2019s important to choose the right words to get just the right point across. Words to describe what you do like stupendous, precise, proficient, and versatile are tremendous words that trump mediocre words like experienced, qualified, interesting, and talented. These dull words are not to be confused with \u2018bad\u2019 words, but they are overused. Anyone can describe themselves as awesome, but who among us thinks they\u2019re essential, indispensable, or authoritative?
\nExtending your vocabulary means you\u2019re choosing not to settle for the simple everydays of good, says, or thinks. Take a chance on words like marvelous, asserts, or ponder! \u00a0I\u2019m not telling you to go out and start learning 10-dollar words like concupiscent, which means vigorously passionate or parsimonious. You can simply explain to someone who\u2019s parsimonious that they\u2019re just, well, cheap. But to pepper in a few 5-dollar words into your vocab like foible, pragmatic, and candor? You might cause the next person you talk with to raise their eyebrows.
\nAllowing yourself to expand your vocabulary can influence others to do the same. Challenge a friend, coworker, or family member to increase theirs as well by:<\/p>\n
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<\/em>In this REMAN U article animation amalgam, The Video Guy advises viewers on the virtues of a vivacious vocabulary. And, you know, just the value of words and stuff. Comment below or\u00a0