Invent a
definition for the word “flangiprop,” then use the word in a post.
This first
entry of the month will be short and sweet, I think. Being the English major that I am, I decided
to look up each of the root words here to get an accurate definition for this
new word I’ll attempt to use in a minute.
1. Flang (I decided to go with flange because there’s an i that the e in the root word could
possibly account for): NOUN-a rib or rim for strength, for guiding, or
for attachment to another object flange
on a pipe> flange
on a wheel>
2.
Prop: VERB-One that serves as a means of
support or assistance.
Now,
use it in a post, okay.
I’ve
always LOVED language, and I adore words. Two of my favorite authors when I was
a teenager and college student were William Faulkner and William
Shakespeare. Most students do NOT like
Shakespeare because they don’t easily understand his writings. But what other author/playwright do you know who
can make soap opera stories into classic literature studied in every high
school and college, even to the point of having whole college level classes
dedicated to his work and his work only?
What other author/playwright has made up and added so many new words to
the English language just because he put them into context in his writing? Not
many, if any. And Faulkner, the author
who made stream of consciousness a style of writing, well, most of us would
just be considered too wordy if we wrote like Faulkner, and our English
teachers would tell us we needed to learn how to use proper punctuation, but
now we can say, we were simply writing in Faulkner’s stream of consciousness
style. J Language can be a flangiprop to our lives if
we choose to use our words wisely and with kindness. They can lift us up, support us through
difficult times, even guide us along the path of life. They can also cause us so much pain and
destroy our lives, but again, only if we let them.
I
love language because of its power to effect change, to express emotions, to
move me and teach me, but I have also felt the power of language through pain,
pain that I’ve experienced at other’s acidic words and pain at realizing that I
have so easily used those same acidic words to inflict pain on others. I still love language, even when it’s power
gets the best of me. I work every day at trying to perfect my use of it, both
in writing and spoken form. I have much
to learn, but I will continue to work at it, just like I continue to work at
any and all things in life that I love.
My end goal is that my language will always be a flangiprop to others
and used for good, not for evil.
“Let no
corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building
up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians
4:29
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