Word

on Mar 22nd 2001, 02:07:31, Natasha Jordan wrote the following about

word

Think how much acceptance Mary showed when she said:

»Let it be done to me according to thy word.«

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And how much courage.

“Be careful what you say—you may have to eat your words.”

I don’t think so much about eating my words as about wearing them. When someone sees me, the words come back to haunt like a miasma around me. No matter how colourful my dress, bad words turn everything grey and muddy brown.

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We shall never understand one another until we reduce the language to seven words.

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 – Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)
 – Sand and Foam [1926]

Have you ever noticed that the only difference between »word« and »weird« are the vowels?

There is a purity in words that cannot be sullied by their use.

And then some more words come along and a paragraph is born.

My favourite word in the English language is »language«. However, if you gave me a slightly larger set of words to choose from I might have more difficulty expressing a preference.

The web of words wraps round the whole wide world, concealing the secret numbers underneath.

1001 1001 0110 1001 1010 1001

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There it was, word for word,
The poem that took the place of a mountain.


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 – Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)
 – The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain [1952], st. I

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.

(Mark Twain)

Words derive their meaning from the surrounding words, just as human beings derive their meaning from interacting with other humans around them.

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Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled.

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 – Horace (65-8 B.C.)
 – Epistles, bk. I, epistle xviii, l. 71

... words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup, they slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe...

'Right again, quite right,' said Mr Swiveller, 'caution is the word, and caution is the act.'