What’s in a word? A lot, apparently, and seemingly even more so in today’s oh-so-critical world.
I recently heard the song “Money For Nothing” by the British rockers Dire Straits. The 1985 song is a parody on the easy lifestyle of rock and roll band members. “Money for nothing and chicks for free,” the words go. I shook my head and laughed, as I could envision the protests that band members Mark Knopfler, David Knopfler, John Illsley and Pick Withers would face today if that word was used in a modern song. Word.
Yes, using the word “chick” wouldn't fly today, unless, of course, it was the name of an all-female band — like The Dixie Chicks. Then chick would be fine, but the word Dixie would have to go, which is exactly why Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer now go by The Chicks. Word.
He. Him. She. Her. They. I get lost in all the pronouns today, and it’s not that I am trying to make a social statement. I’m not. I really don’t care what pronoun you use. But I am a grammarian, and using the word “they” when referring to a singular person is troubling to me. Word.
Growing up watching TV in the 1970s introduced this small-town Iowa kid to people of color. Shows like “The Jeffersons,” “Good Times” and “Sanford and Son” helped me to understand that we all have a lot more in common than we have different. It was during that time when I also began to realize that derogatory terms used to describe people of various races were wrong, regardless of how innocent they seemed. That’s when my young friends and I stopped using racist rhymes from phrases like “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.” Meanwhile, I never understood why the term “honky” was deemed acceptable to describe white people. Word.
Comedian George Carlin had a popular routine called “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” In the 1970s, when he first shared these, the words were considered highly inappropriate and unsuitable for broadcast. Today, the words are more common but are still uncomfortable, so much so that I wouldn’t dare list even one here. Word.
While in college, I was introduced to a new world of people who weren’t Irish or German, like most of the people I grew up with. I had a good friend from Vietnam and a roommate with Italian roots. They both explained to me the meaning of racist words used to describe them. I had never heard those words before. But they did, and way too often. Word.
Woke is a word used frequently today to describe what some people feel is an unnecessary sensitivity to societal issues, especially those of racial and social justice. That word, in itself, can get people on both sides of a debate riled up. Word.
Meanwhile, these are all words. Just words. There are more than 550 of them in this column alone. Some have impact. Most don’t. And that’s OK, because they really are nothing more than words. We could all benefit today by heeding the message from another children’s rhyme: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words shall never hurt me.”
Have a magnificent Monday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
