I’ve been reflecting on the power of verbs in the English language to evoke emotion and even steer people’s opinions. Specifically, I’ve noticed that common verbs lose their “edge” so to speak and communication takes on a dull sheen. But, using vivid verbs brings in a sense of clarity. It commits the speaker to a certain tone or color about what they are speaking of and evokes either assent or dissent in the hearer. Let me use a simple example…

“Today feels like a good day.” – a phrase that may be spoken and heard hundreds of times throughout our week. “Feels” has lost it’s meaning. Saying that “Today” has feelings may have been a novel and abstract way of personifying Today so that the speaker could reflect on how the day has an assertive characteristic on it’s own. But now, it’s boring. We use the phrase because it’s common and people know what we’re talking about (we hope).

But what if I said this…”Today smells fresh.” This is a most odd phrase. I dare you to try it in a conversation and watch people’s reactions grow across their faces. “Why would Today smell like anything?” their mind will wonder. Admitedly, the phrase sounds very poetic and out of place in what we consider normal conversation. But Today “smelling” is no more odd than Today “feeling”. Except that “feeling” has become a bland verb and “smelling” has more texture to it. It even seems a bit sharp in the way it pokes it’s head out of the sentance.

Notice how “feels” has a very passive connotation to it. It’s almost as if the speaker hopes to be convinved or has someone chime in with agreement. In our example, when we say that Today “smells fresh”, there is a more assertive quality to it…precisely because it is unusual.

I’ve been studying a list of verbs to increase (or remember) my vocabulary. You might benefit from it, too. Here’s the link:

http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~dgildea/Verbs/

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve been thinking about a lot, but haven’t found the time to write. In the meantime, I’ve found an interesting article that shows how geeks like to keep themselves occupied.

http://www.news.com.au/common/printpage/0,6093,11009375,00.html

These dudes took some fancy statistical measures and applied them to Murphy’s Law…you know, the one that states, “Anything that can go wrong, will.” It’s comforting to know that we have clear mathematical proof that this is true, AND we can figure out what parts we should change in order to keep things from going wrong at the wrong times.

Here’s the actual equation:
((U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x 1/(1-sin(F/10))

Here’s what the letters mean:
urgency (U), complexity (C), importance (I), skill (S) and frequency (F)
with (A) being level of aggravation.

So, according to this equation, if you want to keep Murphy’s Law at bay, decrease the urgency to do something REALLY important by working ahead on it if possible. Or if you have to do something frequently that is complex, try to find a simpler way to do it. If you follow this equation, you’ll be less likely to trigger the aggravation of your well-being by Murphy’s Law.

Amazing how the world works, eh? Oh, I’m working on an equation for figuring out which side of the bed is the wrong side to wake up on. Results forthcoming…