Lately I've been thinking about language and how we use it. We noticed our next door neighbors seemed to be taking everything out of their house, and K remarked to them that they seemed to be doing a lot of work.
She nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, we replaced the house." I think this was a language gap, but I kindof liked it. We put everything in a new place - we replaced it!
Then I was listening to the TV news coverage when the fires broke out in Montecito.
Why do people say things in a complicated way when a simple word would do just as nicely? One man said they were going to "Effectuate" a plan, instead of just saying they would put a plan into effect. Then he said that another man had "endured the implications of this fire." when the fire had burned down his house! I thought that was a colorful, if not specific, way to put it.
Then the Fire Chief was the master of understatement. Reporters asked him to describe the character of the area for people outside California, and he said it was the "Riviera" of the area, with lots of homes in the hills. The reporter pressed on, asking if he could characterize the community, and the Chief said, "It's very nice."
By that he meant very expensive homes in an extremely expensive area near the ocean, with many homes in Spanish style motifs.
1 comment:
It's funny we try to spruce our language when just getting straight to the point and being sincere would do it justice.
Yes! Ross is here along with the world's biggest Kmart. But Kmart is too expensive (seriously) so I shop at Ross! :)
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