Short words

Gelett Burgess, a technical drawing teacher turned writer, penner of silly poems, and editor, published an essay back in the 30s called “Short Words are Words of Might.” He wrote the whole thing using one-syllable words. It reminds us of the power of our own Germanic language roots and how early words seem to have evolved from emotion itself. Come to think of it, some of the best words we have are four-letter ones.

Big flowery Latinate words are quite stupendous in their place, but as my 11th grade English teacher would tell you, never  use a 50-cent word when a nickel word will do. Burgess demonstrates that our nickel words really are our most valuable by far.

Here are some excerpts:

“Short words must have been our first words when the world was young. The minds of men were raw… Their first words were, no doubt, mere grunts or growls, barks, whines, squeals like those of beasts. These rough, strange sounds were made to show how they felt. They meant joy or pain or doubt or rage or fear…

“But these sounds came, in time, to grow more and more plain as real words. They were short words, strong and clear. And these first short words, used by our sires way back in the dark of time, still have strength and truth. They are bred in our flesh and bone. We may well call such words the life blood of our speech.”

“Short words, you see, come from down deep in us — from our hearts or guts — not from the brain. For they deal for the most part with things that move and sway us, that make us act… That, I think, is why short words tend to make our thoughts more live and true.”