I once found a $100 bill half frozen into the snow on a random stretch of sidewalk in a not-so-great neighborhood. It’s only now occurring to me that it was literally the coolest thing I’ve ever found because it was encased in ice and snow. I acknowledge it’s not so “cool” in the colloquial sense of the word.
What’s your favorite word?
“Sword” is “words” with a simple swap where the word leapfrogs its ass, and yet they are unrhymable with each other. That’s a word with some sort of voodoo magic.
“Facetious.” But I only use it so much because I am it so much.
No, but it sounds like fun — starts with a “GRR” and rhymes with “fudge.”
EPIPHANIES.
But, if you think about it, writing is miraculous. In the scheme of gifts that nature grants, it is way out beyond left field. Encoding ideas and images in simple characters in a way that can evoke emotional or cognitive responses in readers is kind of a superpower. (As is reading.)
“Nazi” and other terms used to hyperbolize the villainy of those who are, at most, moderately villainous. It allows people to dismiss – rather than debate – beliefs with which they are in disagreement, while – simultaneously – it diminishes understanding of the extremes of horror the world has known.
Language can be complex, reason may sprawl,
And words don't always seem to point the way.
Extremes aren't always clear and distinct.
Overhauls are not always an upgrade.
The gist may dwell in a key phrase or two --
Those words the whip that make it race or stay.
Though multitudinous words are in place
They must do more than roar, hiss, or bray.
Overuse of the whip exhausts the horse --
Keep the impulse to whip too much at bay.
The original lines in Simplified Chinese are:
或文繁理富， 而意不指适。
极无两致， 尽不可益。
立片言而居要，乃一篇之警策。
虽众辞之有条，必待兹而效绩。
亮功多而累寡，故取足而不易。
ALIVE!
Close your eyes and listen with care.
Turn all your attention inside.
Let your soul ride the Eight Borders
At a galloping stride.
Inner space brightens, becomes more
Compact, as one views the expanse.
Words pour forth to cleanse the soul,
As the Six Arts lend a fragrance.
Float, swim, and dive in the abyss,
Heedful for words as it all soaks in...
Sometimes the right word must be hooked,
And hauled up where it can be spoken.
But, other times, words are like birds,
That fly themselves out of the clouds,
To be downed by one swift arrow --
Quite willingly freed of their shrouds.
Mine for lines lost ages ago --
Rhymes unsung for ten centuries.
Thank tight buds for the sweet flowers
That they - soon enough - will be.
See past and present concurrently,
At once, touch mountain and sea.
The Original in Simplified Chinese:
其始也，皆收视反听，耽思傍讯，精骛八极，心游万仞。
其致也，情曈曨而弥鲜，物昭晣而互进。
倾群言之沥液，漱六艺之芳润。
浮天渊以安流，濯下泉而潜浸。
于是沈辞怫悦，若游鱼衔钩，而出重渊之深；
浮藻联翩，若翰鸟缨缴，而坠曾云之峻。
收百世之阙文，采千载之遗韵。
谢朝华于已披，启夕秀于未振。
观古今于须臾，抚四海于一瞬。
Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer’s Guide to Getting It Right by Bill Bryson
Tiger Riding for Beginners 