The Power of Words

 

More great smells coming out of my kitchen today, Class 5. I have been making a delicious granola/ muesli thingy. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about.

There's a refillery shop in the Tannery, Food For Thought, where I often get groceries. They have these labels you can put on jars, in English or in Te Reo. I started putting the labels in Maori on my jars- Murihi means Muesli. And it's funny how these things go, initially, my bubble said "Why on earth do you bother, just call it muesli, okay". And a couple of weeks later, we all talk about the murihi which is so delicious.

A little bit everyday goes much further than a lot once and awhile.

My friend Nick is learning Te Reo for the third year in a row. In Nick's house, everything has a label in Te Reo. The table (tepu). The coffee machine (purere cahwe). The door (kuaha). The toilet seat (pae hamuti).

Why do these things matter, you might think, I know them in English, don't I. And learning the word Toilet Seat in Te Reo is not going to enhance my life, or make me understand my country and our history better. 

Granted, you can live a meaningful and fulfilling life without it. But the more words you know, not just having written it down once in your Te Reo lesson with whaea and matua, but really knowing it in your bones so you don't have to think about it, makes you a richer person. The more variety of words you know, the more currency you have in conversations. You express yourself with more accuracy and subtlety. You understand the people around you with more nuance and depth. That leads to better understanding. Which leads to better relationships. Which leads to better decisions. Which leads, eventually,  to world peace.

Same in writing.

Look at this sentence:

" I can see the car coming", said the woman.

Now, use your currency of words and change the word SAID to a synonym, a word which means something very similar. 

Whispered, shouted, screamed, sighted, yelled, complained, sang.

Powerful huh- you have painted a completely different picture by changing one word. That's what the power of words does.

Some words are totally overused in writing. It creates the dreaded "B-word". Bury them and find more interesting ones, your writing and speaking will be so much more enjoyable and richer and interesting.

Just to make sure, there's nothing WRONG with the word said, sometimes you just say something and want to use the word said. But if these words are used again and again, you need to start changing them up.

said

little

very

 big

 went

 go

like

nice

good

bad

happy

 sad

are the most overused words in writing. Check your story and see if you can replace any of those words with a synonym. Read it out loud to yourself and be amazed by your newfound richness. WHAM! Spicy writing indeed 

If you are stuck for a synonym, find a thesaurus on your bookshelf. They are lifesavers for good writing.

To finish of today, here's a video for you by The Sandman. There's no educational value in this video, you already know the story, but it shows the mesmerizing simplicity of sand. Enjoy.

Bonus Feature

The Diary of Merlin The Dog in the Tough Times of the Leash.

 Now what?

The Humans have found a dog park. Silly thing if you ask me, every park I know has a dog in it, so it's a dog park right? And this dog park didn't have many dogs in it anyway, just loads of objects. It should be called a Strange Object Park instead. My humans became quite excited about these mystery objects, they said things like 'training', obedience', 'variety' and 'intellectual stimulation'. 

To be honest, I don't know what the buzz was about. They were just OBJECTS.

But then good things started to happen. Next time we went to the Strange Objects Park, they bought a bag with yummy dog treats. And every time I jumped onto something, they gave me a treat, which was a great improvement on my walk on that leash. Did I tell you I LOVE FOOD?!?

There's these little poles and they want me to weave in and out of it. I honestly don't know why anyone in their right mind would want to do such a thing. But I made a great discovery: watch and learn:

If I do straight what they want me to do, (which to be honest, is not rocket science) I get ONE treat. But- if I look confused, skip a couple of poles and wag my tail in a sweet kind of wag, they use treat after treat after treat to get me through the poles.

I love the dog park. To see my humans work so hard and give me so many treats puts a big smile on my face. I am going to miss this dog park without dogs once lockdown is over.