Words can be powerful in different ways. Take a moment to imagine what I will write about. Then stop imagining and start reading. Today, I really insist that you check the links, as they are somewhat different than what you would expect. Please check out here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
First there was a word
Words can have almost mythical power. In every culture, I can think of there are powerful words that create magic. In Judaism, the god uses language as a part of the creation process, and people can gain unlimited power calling the names of the god. In Buddhism or Induims, words are used to concentrate and contemplate. In various ancient cultures, words are used as magical formulas. There is something very human in speaking. Written words are the driving force behind our civilization. Words have power from the beginning of time, but what we are after is the meaning of words in 21st century.
Aprroximately or accurately
We often find our students asking whether they should remember the words approximately or accurately. Usually, we ask them to remember approximately. What is there to lose if we remember synonyms or even the same root in a different sense? Unless there is something magical in the formulation, the accuracy is not required. If there is something magical in the formulation, we will see and remember it as the music of the lyrics of our favorite songs. This method is not idiot-proof. We may miss some wordplay or worse. Some of the biggest mistakes of western history were caused by bad translations of the holy books.
Author’s tip: if you need to remember something accurately, remember the music of the words.
Lost in translation
The translation is an extremely sensitive subject. If we translate mechanically word by word, the texts we read become boring and ugly, losing their structure and beauty. We can translate texts in a beautifully poetic way, but then it becomes very different from the original. If we take a poetic license, we need to reformulate the meaning of the text as we understand it. All other meanings are lost, and many texts allow many levels of understanding. Probably, this is why international treaties are written and signed in several languages to allow no place for misrepresentation.
Author’s tip: if you absolutely need to remember something, formulate it in several different ways.
Professional terminology
The specific way of formulation often is a demarcation line between philosophical paradigms. For centuries physicist described the matter either as a particle or as a wave until finally both descriptions were reconciled. Very commonly sounding terminology may mean very different things, especially in chemistry. In psychology giving something a name has diagnostic powers with complex and often unpredictable results. How would you call president Trump’s character may define more than your political standing.
Author’s tip: wait before you talk in a new company, learn the terminology of your social circle and copy it to blend in.
Social status
The words we choose and the way we use them define our social status. It is often easy to guess who someone is by the choice of words, accent and spelling mistakes. Before we had computers, Dyslexia was a terrible thing. If you happened to make a couple of mistakes in the text you wrote nobody would take you seriously. The level of education was the first sigh of the social status, and it was evident both in vocabulary and in literacy.
Author’s tip: use spelling software like Grammarly.
Keyword search
Today, literacy is very different. We find whatever we need online, using keyword search. We do not need to remember the exact words, as Google will correct our mistakes. What we need is approximately three words describing the idea we are looking for, and the search engines will do the rest.
The spellers may handle generic texts, but they will seldom help with brand names or with the names of functions and variables we use in our code. Usually, we do not even need to remember the entire keyword: it is enough to remember the most important part of it.
Author’s tip: notice the keywords that produced good results and if needed write them in a diary.
Recall
It is very common to have recall problems. Everybody, no matter how talented, occasionally finds himself telling the wrong word in the wrong time, or frantically searching for the right word which is on the tip of the tongue. For example, as I am fluent in at least three languages, I often find myself recalling the word in one language rather than the others. Even worse, I am very visual and often find myself describing the word because I cannot recall the word itself.
Author’s tip: if you cannot recall a word, use synonyms and alternative expressions.
Bridging the gaps of understanding
One of the hardest issues we face is explaining some professional idea we take as granted to someone whose education is profoundly different from ours. When a husband came home the wife used to ask “how was your day”. I do not think this is the case anymore in most families. How can a software engineer explain some algorithmic concern, neural network dataset issue or debugging difficulties to his wife who is a medical doctor or a lawyer? It is very hard for growth companies to explain their customers and investors what they do. Educating the public is damn hard, and for me, this is why Steve Jobs used the word “magical” so often.
Author’s tip: sophisticated technology or great art may sound like magic, but emotional issues and daily challenges tend to be universal.
Positive language
The way we build metaphors and express our emotions can both motivate and demotivate. The rule of thumb is 4 positive messages for 1 negative. Too much positive talk will result in detachment from reality, and too little will lead to animosity and depression.
Metaphors are especially powerful, as they tend to bypass our critical thinking and knowledge barriers, addressing deep parts of our subconsciousness. Even when we know that everything in the metaphor is wrong, we will still react to it.
Author’s tip: choose a positive language and use metaphors sparingly.
Silence is golden
Women talk approximately x3 more than men, but men also tend to talk a lot. We are constantly bombarded by information. People used to be afraid of awkward silences, but nowadays spending some time together in silence might be a good thing. Nonverbal communication is often more powerful than what we say and hear. People who say few words are often considered to be more intelligent than they really are, and liked more than they deserve to.
Author’s tip: listen more than you talk to be respected.
Learning rare words
It is wise to learn new and rare words and to use these words accurately. Each rare word often immediately becomes a marker to remember the entire communication. Saying too many rare words is confusing, and not a very good sign. Understanding rare words is an immediate way to build up trust and communication, as people who understand our rare words often are similar in their reading habits, upbringing, and the intellectual equivalent of DNA.
Author’s tip: use rare words as markers to remember things.
