JF says he finds it funny that very often, I passionately love or hate something. That when I react to people, objects, ideas, circumstances or carry out tasks, I either do it with the ardent fervour of a saint in prayer, or with such chilling disdain that you'd think it might just kill me. Hmmm...maybe it's true. I don't appreciate mediocrity, and mindless conformity irks me. I HATE when people reply...."that's just the way it is". BECAUSE IT'S NOT. I WILL make it NOT be that way.
I've just finished reading this excellent book:
I really do recommend that you get your hands on a copy at once. From a writer's technical viewpoint, it's a brilliantly crafted piece of writing. Words are skillfully selected to surprise and delight your mind. MORE IMPORTANTLY, the book is so enjoyable, so riveting, simply because it is SO HUMAN.
It's one of those rare books that inspires, shocks and make you laugh out loud (and cry) at the same time. (And I'm one of those people who laughs out loud when I read or see something funny....even when I'm all alone, honestly!)
The book is a work of non-fiction and it's about a year of change that the writer goes through.
In one part of the book, the writer has a discussion with her Italian friend, Giulio about the "WORD of a city". He says that each city has a single word that defines it, that if you could read the thoughts of the people passing you on the street of that city, you'd discover that most of them are thinking the same thought. And he says that the word for Rome (the city which they are in) is SEX. While the word of the Vactican is POWER. The writer thinks that the word for New York is ACHIEVE, for Los Angeles...SUCCEED. Her Swedish friend Sofie says (rather sadly) that the word for her hometown Stockholm is CONFORM.
This gets the writer thinking about her own word and she's stumped. She hasn't found her word yet. (She does later in the book).
And so, it got me thinking, what's my word? I haven't found it yet either. I know my punctuation mark is !
In the politely politically correct "all-inclusive" world we live in today, it may seem limiting to confine the definition of your entire being into one word. We are after all, multi-faceted souls (although I do know some one-dimensional people!) But this is merely an exercise in FUN, something to think about in that quiet moment just before you fall asleep. I also can't help but love the copywriting challenge in this! :)
While I'm pondering, it'd be interesting to know what you guys think my word is. Thank you Maarten for posting all your comments....I really enjoy reading them and it makes me feel that some out there is listening :)
It'd be great to hear from the rest of you who read my blog :) So post away!
1 comment:
It seems Dutch people have a significant advantage in this word game. We are, after all, the people that invented the word "hottentottententententoonstelling" (an exhibition of tents made by the hottentots, which I believe is an African tribe). Of course, from there we can easily go to "Hottentottententententoonstellingskaartjesverkoper" which is a person selling tickets for said exhibition. But why stop there? "Hottentottententententoonstellingskaartjesverkopersvakbond" is the union for these ticket sellers. And this union obviously needs an office: "Hottentottententententoonstellingskaartjesverkopersvakbondskantoor". And in this office we will have a indexed manual with (little) page numbers: "Hottentottententententoonstellingskaartjesverkopersvakbondskantoorgebruikershandleidingindexpaginanummertjes". And yes, I could go on. I'm sure there are more examples on the Internet.
I added the book to my Amazon.com wishlist, though I'm not sure if it will compare well with Robert Wright's "The Moral Animal". But I can't say anything until I've read it.
Although it is getting less (partly because of the earlier mentioned book), I still think I can easily be described with "Amuse", the first title of my first poetry book.
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