words: gotta love 'em!

so today . . . diandra wrote a blog on her photography site called "the biggest loser." when i read that title, i immediately thought about the reality show with that name and thought, "wait, she's not dieting." so i read the blog, and realized she was talking about contests, not losing weight. but those words--the biggest loser--brought an immediate picture to my mind. it was just the wrong picture.

that got me thinking about words. i love words, but sometimes i hate them! when words go into my brain, either written or spoken, they form a picture and it isn't always accurate. how many times have you had to say to someone, "no, that isn't what i meant. " words can be confusing . . .

. . . or wonderful. one of the contests that diandra entered (and lost) was on Jasmine Star's blog. first of all, we think jasmine is the bomb! (i hope i used that correctly--but if not, let me just say we love her!) it was a great contest. and 835 people responded--can you even imagine?!?! the challenge was to write a story in six words. diandra really wanted that prize, so all three of us worked on stories for a couple of days. we played with nouns and verbs and adjectives and adverbs until i was doing it in my sleep! i started thinking in six word sentences. and if my thought had five or seven words, i would rework it. it was a great brain exercise and lots of fun! i still do it sometimes when i am walking the dogs, or sitting in traffic, or standing in line. in fact, i was just thinking that i should start keeping a list of my six word stories . . .

. . . and words that i love. like slurpish. or conglomerate. or insightful. say them out loud and think about how they sound and how your mouth feels when you say them. puppy. languish. onomotopeaia (i'd better spell check that one.) and snarky--which btw, i invented about 10 years ago, even though now all the sports writers use it . . .

i love words, and the phrases and stories that they tell when strung together in a thoughtful and creative way. i think that is one of the reasons i blog, and why i stalk other blogs. for me, it isn't just about the content of the blog, it is also about the choice of vocabulary and the way different bloggers manipulate the language. it is about that first sentence, but more importantly, the last one. it is about drawing that picture in the reader's mind that accurately portrays what you want to say--and again, not just the content but also the feeling of it.

so, to paraphrase a famous philosopher, "i think, therefore i blog!"

oh shoot! that was only five words . . .