They say that Roget’s Thesaurus happened because he got in the habit of making lists as a way to deal with depression. I find myself making lists, too, but it’s not because I’m depressed. Sometimes it’s because I’m looking for a homophone, or a rhyme for light verse or a children’s poem. Often, I need a synonym to keep from repeating a word too often. Or when I come across a word while reading and am not sure of its reference; consider the word “bow” for instance. Did the writer mean to indicate a weapon, a ribbon, a part of a ship, or a respectful nod? “Mow,” also depending on how you pronounce the O, is either a place to store hay or what you do to your lawn to keep it tidy.
I once started a list of homographs, words that are spelled alike but are often pronounced differently and have distinctly different meanings. The difference is often no more than the vowel pronunciations (wind, wound, lead and bass.) Sometimes it is just a matter of putting the stress on a different syllable, as in “entrance” meaning an access or to charm; and “intimate” indicating either closeness or to infer. The word “homograph” is from a Greek term meaning “written the same.” Other words spelled with the same letters but in different order are called anagrams, and that’s a different list.
There are, of course, many words with several different meanings. Those definitions are often closely related and it’s easy to see how they evolved. I’m more intrigued by those words whose multiple meanings seem totally unrelated. Consider; stick, a piece of wood or to adhere; rank, a military level or to smell bad; rib, a barbecue treat or to tease someone; train, to teach or a progression of related thoughts; down, pillow stuffing or the opposite of up; bear, an animal or to tolerate or carry.
Often in my seemingly pointless tabulation of words, I find I must consult a dictionary to verify a spelling or a meaning, and often discover additional definitions I had either forgotten or never heard of. I discovered that the word “last” had more meanings than to endure or to be final. It also means to evolve (though that sounds close to endure) and is somehow related to weight and volume, though the explanation eluded me. I had forgotten that it also refers to a holding device for a shoemaker or cobbler. I suppose it might refer to a tool for other crafts as well.
Words that are spelled alike but pronounced differently aren’t evident in spoken communication, though they do sometimes bring me to a screeching halt of confusion when I’m reading. Words that sound alike but are spelled differently (homophones) can cause confusion in the spoken word and often are taken advantage of in humorous ways. A few of those are flee and flea, moose and mousse, find and fined, bade and bayed, and you, yew and ewe – all totally unrelated to their sound-alikes. Such words are the bane of poor spellers and often show up quite innocently in publications. I suspect that far too many writers and perhaps some editors rely a bit too heavily on Spell-check, which only knows if a word is spelled right, and not if it’s the right word.
My little lists of these interesting words have become an untidy collection of scraps of paper which I keep in a box that once held snack crackers. That seems somehow appropriate; the lists supply me with an occasional “snack” of words which lead to ideas for stories, poems and, as today, this column. Besides supplying me with ideas, they document much of the irritation I express about misuse and abuse of our language. And their sheer numbers remind me that our wonderful language is a tasty blend of words derived from many languages in use around the world and encourage me to keep expanding my vocabulary to take best advantage of the color, flavor and wonder of all the words available, free of charge, to anyone who wishes to use them.
Someday, I suppose my children and grandchildren will be going through the remnants of my projects, abandoned stories, revised poems and pointless notes to myself and decide to toss them out. The lists may then be gone, but the words will always exist. I just hope that people will use them properly, creatively and confidently.