Word Smiths

I've never been a huge wordsmith; in fact I am alternately impressed and disgusted by wordsmiths in general. I remember one of our first assignments for a class to get my MBA was to divine a mission statement. Due to these two gals in the class my team was at this task for three hours on a Friday night for what ultimately became a throw-away line at the beginning of the next class. They were investigating and trying out each and every syllable and letter in that mission statement as if they were picking out wedding dresses. Naturally the three other guys in my group were as put out with the gals as I was. We would have been content with the rented tux version, finding something on the internet, cutting, pasting and re-working.

Then, at my last position, there was a dame who was the most unobtrusive and least offensive wordsmith I've ever known. She could come up with ideas and words quickly and easily. Made me think differently about a personality group I'd previously disparaged. My views of wordsmiths went from hatred and loathing to mere annoyance. It's been upped again, this time to intrigue and interest as my son has recently broken into the industry.

My four year old coins terms that both melt the heart and give pause to re-order what the listener thought about the universe. Last month it was "Movieater" instead of "Theatre." Makes sense doesn't it. Just this weekend it was "Jumpoline" instead of "Trampoline." Again, makes perfect sense.

I'm sure there will be more to come.