Scrabble

Scrabble
I am blessed with, as my sons would term it, a “ridiculous” vocabulary, so much so, that my wife accuses me of making words up. My wife’s “directness” (for which I love, admire, and prize her greatly) is an appropriate reminder that the bottom line in speech, whether speechmaking, speechwriting, or speech of any kind, is communication. The trick, of course, is knowing what to say, how to say it, and when to say it.

I have to admit that I’m a lousy scrabble player; vocabulary is meaningless in scrabble, utilization of letter capability to obtain the maximum point value…that relationship between letters and best possible use is the ballgame. A visual sense is the key to maximizing potential at every turn. I don’t have that spatial gift, so my verbal endowment doesn’t mean much. However, in my head, I play a mean game of “scrabble” in the widest sense. I do well on the conceptual boards that life presents me with at any given moment of every day.

I wasn’t always such a good player. I had the vocabulary in a superficial sense, but I didn’t “own” it. I played the game as a bystander, eager to impress others, not caring about context or communication.

That shallowness changed at college. My friends and classmates challenged me with their specificity, and I internalized the challenge; I take it up every day, looking for the right word. Plus, to let you in the big secret: I find that searching in the fraction of a second for the right word is one of the great delights of my life. Sometimes the right word is simple, sometimes the right word is complex. (By the way, just to set the record straight, polysyllabics are NOT those who practice having more than one spouse at a time.)

The major change at college occurred not only in terms of usage; it also occurred in terms of written style.

I abandoned adjectives, the passive voice, and the “one does this or one does that” mode of expression. I insisted on the declarative; after I left college and went into the corporate word, I learned just how dangerous the declarative is…it demands an unambiguous subject, a clear agent. People in business do not want to take responsibility, so the passive is a handy tool. “The numbers were given to me only last night.” Well, that action was late. Who gave them to you last night, and not two days ago? Or, dead agents become the subjects of declarative sentences, as when “The situation demands new leadership.” When was the last time a situation rose at a meeting after politely raising its hand and receiving recognition?

Speak clearly, not to impress, but to communicate. Play scrabble for your best speech: use the best letters and words you can to cover the board for maximum points.

Next time: “Reality”

Stay tuned.