I have been thinking about the importance of words for the past week or so. Words matter. They have always mattered, but they matter even more today than ever, I think. In these fractious, complicated times, every word gets parsed and considered, and interactions are increasingly complex and nuanced. As a word person, I think quite carefully when I speak most of the time, because it is important to me not to be misunderstood or to have my meaning misconstrued. That has always mattered to me. Today, it matters even more, when tempers are so on edge and people are so ready to be disagreeable.
