The Teacher: Essays and Addresses on EducationPalmer, Alice Freeman
Philosophy
The Teacher: Essays and Addresses on Education
Palmer, Alice Freeman
Education; Education, Higher; Women -- Education
Why then do we hesitate to swell our words to meet our needs? It is a
nonsense question. There is no reason. We are simply lazy, too lazy to
make ourselves comfortable. We let our vocabularies be limited and get
along rawly without the refinements of human intercourse, without
refinements in our own thoughts; for thoughts are almost as dependent on
words as words on thoughts. For example, all exasperations we lump
together as "aggravating," not considering whether they may not rather
be displeasing, annoying, offensive, disgusting, irritating, or even
maddening; and without observing too that in our reckless usage we have
burned up a word which might be convenient when we should need to mark
some shading of the word "increase." Like the bad cook, we seize the
frying-pan whenever we need to fry, broil, roast, or stew, and then we
wonder why all our dishes taste alike while in the next house the food
is appetizing. It is all unnecessary. Enlarge the vocabulary. Let any
one who wants to see himself grow resolve to adopt two new words each
week. It will not be long before the endless and enchanting variety of
the world will begin to reflect itself in his speech, and in his mind as
well. I know that when we use a word for the first time we are startled,
as if a fire-cracker went off in our neighborhood. We look about hastily
to see if any one has noticed. But finding that no one has, we may be
emboldened. A word used three times slips off the tongue with entire
naturalness. Then it is ours forever, and with it some phase of life
which had been lacking hitherto. For each word presents its own point of
view, discloses a special aspect of things, reports some little
importance not otherwise conveyed, and so contributes its small
emancipation to our tied-up minds and tongues.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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