Words Fitly Spoken

It’s been said that a person’s vocabulary is a predictor of their comprehension. In other words, a person with a small vocabulary is less likely to understand what he is reading or hearing than a person with a large vocabulary.

Makes sense.

Scripture encourages us to have a wide vocabulary so that we are able to find the right words for the right occasion.

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. (Proverbs 25:11)

If you want to be a person with a large vocabulary of useful words, fit for any occasion, then read. Read often. Learn the proper use and meaning of words.

On the other hand, the Bible cautions us against being a chatterbox.

When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. (Proverbs 10:19)

Like the person who can never sit still, a talkative person may be described as someone who is either about to get themselves into hot water or is trying to conceal the hot water he is already in.

Perhaps it’s for this reason that Jesus also says to His disciples,

But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ Whatever is more than these is of the evil one. (Matthew 5:37)

Plain and precise speech is preferred over long and wordy speech (Ecclesiastes 5:2). A few choice words with a clear meaning, and taken from a large vocabulary, are better than long-winded, cliched and repetitive speech taken from a small pool of words (cf. Matthew 6:7).

It’s also a mark of wisdom.

And so it follows that one of the signs of a corrupt, foolish and transgressive culture is the multiplying of vague, repetitive and pointless words.

Here’s an example from Kamala Harris, the vice president of the United States, talking about the weather in May 2022.

“Our world is more interconnected and interdependent. That is especially true when it comes to the climate crisis, which is why we will work together, and continue to work together, to address these issues, to tackle these challenges, and to work together as we continue to work operating from the new norms, rules, and agreements, that we will convene to work together and to galvanize global action.”

Interconnected, interdependent, climate crisis, ‘address the issues’, ‘tackle the challenges’, ‘work together’, new norms, galvanise global action.

Inflammatory jargon, repetition, cliches, wordiness, it’s all there. The only thing missing is a coherent and meaningful sentence.

Jesus taught us by example to use words in order to reveal truth. Scoundrels and fools use words to conceal their evil intentions.

The word democracy is a good example.

At some point in history, in order to tackle communism, we started to contrast communism with democracy. Of course, on their own, these words don’t tell us much at all and so we began to fill each word with lots of adjectives.

Over time communism meant a list of bad things while democracy, we were told, meant a list of good things.

Today, instead of actually stating what those good and bad things are we just use the words themselves to mean good and bad. The result is that any dictator can use the word “democracy” to describe what he’s doing and enjoy a round of applause. Why? Because, whatever democracy is, if he’s doing it, it’s a good thing, right?

The word democracy means the rule (kratia) of demos (the people). The rule of the people.

But let’s be honest, most of those using the term today want anything but the rule of the people. What they want are servants they can rule.

Not that I’m advocating the rule of the people. As Christian’s, we look to the rule of Christ above, not the rule of the people down below.

Typically, what comes from below is less than desirable.

Nevertheless, we hear and use the word democracy and think that somehow we are being offered something good.

I also remember hearing about the hole in the ozone layer, which then became global warming, which then became the utterly vacuous, “climate change”. But even that was too vague for our overlords to bear and so now we call it climate crisis, which simply means we can now blame the climate for any crisis we find ourselves in.

Meanings and definitions no longer matter.

You don’t have to explain why someone is a Marxist or a fascist, or phobic, or narsassistic, or a misogynist. You just have to call them one and everybody else assumes that they must be bad.

We do the same thing with words like humility and love, which have come to mean ignoring scripture and siding with sinners. What was once considered an abomination is today called unfortunate. What was once considered flattery is today called an encouraging word.

As Christians, Jesus commands us to use precision in our language. Precision requires a good vocabulary and an understanding of what words mean.

It means plain speech, but this does not mean boring or ugly speech. King David was a songwriter who knew how to speak plainly and beautifully.

It means sincere, clear and truthful speech. It means sound speech that cannot be condemned (by God’s standards), so that he who opposes you may be ashamed, having nothing evil (as God defines it) to say about you (Titus 2:8).

George Orwell’s book, 1984, written in 1949, saw our day coming. The story revolves around four government-run agencies and a character named Winston Smith who worked for one of them.

Those agencies were:

The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with propaganda and the propagation of lies through the daily news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained its tyranny through torture and the constant surveillance of the “Thought Police”. And the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs and insuring the population was kept in poverty.

The slogans were, War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, and 2 + 2 = 5.

In the world of 1984, everything that was evil was rebranded as good. The constant war machine came with the promise of peace – just around the corner. The ministry of plenty concerned itself with making sure everybody was too weak and impoverished to mount a defence against the lies they were being told on a daily basis.

The problem of doublespeak was obviously something that got under Orwell’s skin. 3 years earlier, in 1946, Orwell wrote an essay entitled, Politics and the English Language, in which he points out the way language was being used and misused to conceal truth, divert attention and deceive people in his own day.

At the conclusion of the essay, Orwell gave some practical advice on how to avoid misusing language, how to master it and use precision in both speech and the written word.

I leave a summary of his advice here for your edification.

1. Be original. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech that has lost its impact or meaning through constant use or misuse.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word in order to sound clever if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

5. Break any of these rules rather than say anything untrue, unnecessarily harsh or pointless.

And further because the preacher was wise, he also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. (Ecclesiastes 12:9-10)