Archive for May 14, 2014
THE WORDS THEY ARE A CHANGIN’
We writers deal with words, and lately I’ve noticed a trend which was brought to the forefront of my brain by an advertisement I recently saw in a Philadelphia newspaper. More on that later. The trend of which I speak is to substitute a word for another word that has been working just fine.
Here we go with my observations.
You rarely these days buy a used car. More and more cars these days, especially the high-end types are ‘preowned’. It makes it sound as if someone was kind enough to break-in the car for you. It wasn’t really used, just owned. Now it’s ready for you. In my writing there will never be a preowned car, only those of the used variety.
Another word that has made it into daily use ad nauseam is hydrate. What is wrong in taking a drink when you are thirsty?
In my mind, if you need to be hydrated you must be dehydrated. To remedy dehydration once involved needles finding veins attached to tubes attached to hanging bags of fluid. The characters in my writing, when thirsty, will take a drink.
Finally, what really got me going on this subject was the ad I mentioned earlier telling of the procedures offered by an Aesthetic Physician. I guess the term ‘plastic surgeon’ is not fancy enough, which is a field, at times, already boarders on the absurd. Granted, the discipline is essential in many instances helping those with battle injuries or victims of accidents lead more fulfilling lives, people with disfiguring injuries that need reconstruction. But this is a branch of medicine which increasingly plays off our vanity. To grow old is a sign of weakness, a disease to be cured by the Aesthetic Physician. To my knowledge, there is only one method to truly prevent aging and I’m sure you know what it is. The characters in my writing will never go close to an Aesthetic Physician.
Or maybe they will, to change their identity after a deed of mayhem or horror.
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