Questions and answers are so accuratly interlaced in aphorisms that all word lovers have surely their favourite ones about words !

Mark Twain gave us the direction, you know : "The difference between the right word and the almost ..."

My favorite is one of Albert CAMUS, author of a "Mythe de Sisyphe" (? Sisyphe) :

In french : "Mal nommer les choses, c'est ajouter au malheur du monde." (Albert CAMUS)

Literaly : "To name badly anythings, it is to add to the misfortune of the world."

It is one of the best literary proposition to define the concept we are looking for (for those who are looking for) in "To elucidate or to clarify" topic, observe what is and where is the ... fighting front !
(Don't be eluded Kalleh by my compulsive cross-references addiction !)

What are your favorite aphorisms about WORDS, word lovers ?

safi

"brevity is the soul of wit". is that oscar wilde?


to someone who is a jerk "keep my name out of your mouth".

"a man who cannot win a woman with his tongue is no man". shakespeare was talking about talking, right?



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Awww, Safi, you know that I am just teasing you, right? I love your superlative posts on this board!

Here is a good aphorism for you, Safi, concering our disagreement about the definitions of clarification and elucidation:

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it
--Aristotle

LORD POLONIUS: What do you read, my lord?
HAMLET: Words, words, words.
.
.
.
LORD POLONIUS [Aside] Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.

Not Oscar Wilde, but William Shakespeare in Hamlet (1601), spoken by Polonius Act II Scene 2 ...
I apologize to you wildflowerchild and to all word lovers who ...
HO Stop Sorry, I know I'm too wordy because ...

... this one is of Oscar Wilde, in "The Picture of Dorian Gray", spoken by Lord Henry :

"Moderation is a fatal thing. Enough is as bad as a meal. More than enough is as good as a feast."

Wordy because word-apikoros (and too much "lesson teacher" ? sure !... )

safi

England and America are two countries separated by the same language.
-- George Bernard Shaw

We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.
-- Oscar Wilde

If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.
-- Doug Larson

Do not accustom yourself to use big words for little matters
-- Samuel Johnson

Aristotle is ... wordy too, (tiresome ?) I apologize for him wildflowerchild, but he offers here a way for a "peace plan" between kalleh and me, about our elucidate/clarify bantering conflict.

"Lack of experience diminishes our power of taking a comprehensive view of the admitted facts. Hence those who dwell in intimate association with nature and its phenomena grow more and more able to formulate, as the foundation of their theories, principles such as to admit of a wide and coherent development; while those whom devotion to abstract discussions has rendered unobservant of the facts are too ready to dogmatize on the basis of a few observations."
Aristotle, De Generatione et Corruptione, I, 2, 316a 5-12.

Aristotle is always among us but ... unavoidably detained. So, I propose to experiment its well suggested experimentation with an other impartial mediatory : our "word lovers" favorite engine GOOGLE !

It will be done on "to clarify or to elucidate" topic, not to insist "pulling together our various threads" ...

... if you agree Kalleh ?

Half hand kissing !
(Cheek kissing is recommended on both left and right, without restraint, but after the peace !)

safi

How have you guessed that at the question "If you were a WORD ?", my favorite answer is "fur" ?

You give us a new topic : "And if you were a WORD ?" ... Launch it ?

safi