By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
I think a lot about words, and the meaning of words.
That probably doesn’t come as a huge surprise. I write for a living, after all. Me thinking about words is like a mechanic thinking about engines or a farmer thinking about beef.
I still remember the first time I became enamored and fascinated by a new word; it was the word “cope,” and I was in kindergarten.
I’m sure there had been plenty of words that were new to me before that. It would be impossible for me to count the number of times our preschool aged son has asked me what something means, and I can’t have been much different in that respect. We didn’t have vocabulary word lists yet in kindergarten, and I already knew my ABCs and was even beginning to learn to read a bit before I even started school. My strongest kindergarten memory before this was the anxiety I felt over my poor artistic ability and the scolding I got for “scribbling” instead of drawing something during art time. I also remember telling my teacher than one particular scribble was a “map to Santa Claus’s house” in order to stave off another round of admonishments.
But, during an assembly for some milestone anniversary in our principal’s career (he had also been my father’s principal, and looked older than my grandparents, which made him ancient in my young mind) a classmate gave him a card. It was one of those die cut cards, shaped like the young orangutan grinning out from the cover, with his hands pressed to his forehead, and across the base it read, “I just can’t cope anymore!”
I knew those other words, but cope – cope was brand new! I knew it had to be some action, but what could it mean? I pondered and obsessed, came up with possibilities and dismissed them, and with no familiarity yet with dictionaries and a fear of asking my teacher, I imagined many different things.
I don’t remember exactly how I learned the meaning. I think I finally asked my dad. But I do remember being underwhelmed. It didn’t mean any of the various things I’d imagined. It wasn’t lassoing cats or terrorizing students. It wasn’t some exotic dance that he’d done when he was younger. It was just dealing with stuff. Why couldn’t they have just said, “I just can’t deal with things anymore!” or something else that wasn’t so hard to figure out?
Of course, I understand now what I didn’t then; that words have specific meanings that add nuance beyond the basic meaning. That’s why the weather isn’t just cold. It’s freezing. It’s frigid. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, it’s just a little chilly. It’s brisk.
You know you need a heavy coat if I say it’s frigid, and that a light jacket or even a windbreaker might do if it’s just a little chilly.
This all came to me last week when I was visiting, of all places, the restroom of a Dollar General store. If you’ve been in one of their restrooms lately, you might have noticed signs in both English and Spanish asking you not to flush trash – no botar basura – in the toilet. The thing that struck me most was the closing, though. The English version finishes with “Thank you for your assistance.” The Spanish translation finishes with “gracias por tu colaboracion.”
It got me thinking about the difference between “assistance” and “collaboration” (which shares roots with its Spanish homonym), and how much nicer it would be if, instead of feeling like we were being asked to help with someone else’s task – to provide assistance – so their job is easier, we all felt like we were in it together. I wondered if folks might be tempted to take more ownership and follow these if the language choices suggested we were all partners. After all, if you’re collaborating, it isn’t a superior and subordinate dynamic. You are working together, for the good of everyone, including yourself. Colaboracion.
So, could changing our word choice really make any kind of significant difference in our behavior? Is it really as simple as optimistic phrasing? Probably not.
But it probably wouldn’t hurt either. Who knows, in conjunction with other positive changes, it might have a huge impact someday, because words do have power. That’s something I’ve always understood.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
