Word

Words beginning with the »sn« sound in English are often unpleasant: snide, snob, snigger, sneer, snicker, snub, snert, snotty, snippy, snit, snarl, snore, sneak, snag. »Snow« is a word over which there is debate and even an annual change of heart. The first snowfall is almost always welcomed. Christmas snow is considered magical. But too much of a good thing for too long and March blizzards push »snow« into line with the rest of the »sn« words.

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Words are like leaves; and where they most abound,
Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.

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 – Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
 – An Essay on Criticism [1711], pt. II, l. 109

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Words like winter snowflakes.

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 – Homer (c. 700 B.C.)
 – The Iliad, bk. III, l. 222

Isn't it weird that words work as well as they do? Think about it.

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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

»Therefore« is a word the poet must not know.

(Andre Gide)

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

(Mark Twain)

Spaces define which letters to together to make up a word.

Words are the best toys you can give your brain.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was 32 bits.

A word has the power to define, to bind, to create, to destroy. Truely, a poet has power undreamt of by kings.

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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

mortar my words
with particles
prepositions
adverbs
and conjunctions

Which is more useful to you: a dictionary that tells you how to use a word or a dictionary that tells you how a word is used?