I like to think of myself as a concise person. At the dinner table in high school I minced my words so I wouldn't lose my three brothers' looming gazes too quickly. Stories found their best parts quickly. Words found their place in my mouth. And I succeeded at sounding like I knew what was saying. I cast certain words to the wayside, eliminating them for their ambiguity or meaninglessness.
Teenage boys are the only people that can use the word "awesome" because it's just silly to use casually unless the speaker is talking about Halo or blue frosting-glazed poptarts. That's an obvious one though. I don't like the word "yummy" because I feel like I'm trying to be this cutesy college-aged girl eating goat cheese or some other health-food snack made by Kashi.
Words like "weird" bother me because anything from a soccer kick to a cup of tea could be described as weird. Let me assure you - I use these words far too often. And so I am losing speed in my speech. My tongue spouts sentences like, "Wow, this book is great. Some of the characters are weird though, and I don't really understand everything, but the writer is an awesome author."
Other words irritate me too. Somehow adverbs find their way into sentences, completely changing and totally disproportionalizing them.
Let's shelf these words. It's not a snooty recognition to abolish their use. I would like to retain my older brothers' listening ears. I would like to be intentional and creative with my conversations with you.
