The Intermission

One reason working at an agency is interesting is because you’re always getting little peeks into other companies and their cultures. As an amateur philologist, I take special interest in the kinds of words other companies use. At Bridge, we have a set of “equity words” which we use to describe ourselves and the work we do. Other companies have equity words too, but sometimes I find the words people use in everyday conversation even more interesting.

One word I’m hearing way too much these days is “choiceful”. Let me give you an example. “This branding project gives us an opportunity to be really choiceful about how we present ourselves.” or “We have three design options, so we need to be really choiceful about the one we use.”

Let me just flat out say that “choiceful” deserves to be recognized as one of the worst words to infiltrate human speech and thought in this past century. I see from context that the word is intended to convey a sense of needing to choose carefully or with some special considerations in mind. In reality, the word is made up of “choice” and “full”, which suggests nothing more than the need to make a lot of choices. So “choiceful” lacks all the punch and useful implications of a word that I prefer: wise.

In every situation where I’ve heard “choiceful” used, it’s not so important that we make a lot of choices as it is that we make a wise choice. Maybe the linguistic difference isn’t that big to most people, but let me give an imperfect parallel example.

In college, I had a business law professor who was an excellent combination of dry and witty. I took Business Law I and II from him, and enjoyed both classes immensely. At Cedarville, we open classes with prayer, and one thing I remember Professor Hartman praying for regularly was that “we would be wise in our affections.” This phrase stuck with me, since it seems that we often cause ourselves and others pain because we’re emotionally tied to something that we shouldn’t.

If you rewrote Professor Hartman’s prayer, but changed “wise in our affections” to something equivalent to the word “choiceful” you might end up with a prayer that asks that “we would be affectionate.” See how the meaning is twisted?

I do not want to be generally “affectionate” — lending my affections to whatever would have them. Nor do I want to be “choiceful” — tossing out choices whenever they strike me. Instead, I will be wise in my affections and my choices.

Note: For much better and more scholarly linguistic studies, I highly recommend C.S. Lewis’ Studies in Words. If you’re not into words and literature, this will be the most dry book you’ve ever read. But if you have an interest in words, you can’t get much better than this.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 9:56 pm and is filed under words that are dumb. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.