CONTRONYMS & CAPITONYMS

WORDS as SWORDS

 

(Based on an idea by Michael Frayn featured in The original Michael Frayn The Salamander Press 1983)

(Some uni lecturers at Granada University used to pronounce ”swords” and “words”as homophonous( the same way) in the 1970´s. What great masters we had!…)

See in this same blog 102: Change your words to change your world or 146: The secret life of words.

Words can be used as swords to wound both superficially and deeply. As the Spanish proverb goes:” It can burn hotter than a gypsy´s words. You can be more hurtful than the words of a gypsy.”

So, be very careful with the words you choose: they can be harmful if poorly chosen, patronizing, derogatory, laudatory, vague or even explosive (They can be real dynamite)…” Just say beautiful things and you will be a beautiful person.” One of Buddha´s life-changing quotes states: Think good thoughts, say nice words, do good for others as everything comes back (Karma).  Remember each and every one of us is still healing from things they don´t talk about, so be kind. Use positive words, create your own healing vocabulary from A-Z:

Ex:

Awakened alertness

Breathed in bravery

Confident courage

Delicious dreams

Friendly faith fine

Healing hope

Joyful Joy

Love laughter

Mindfulness music

New nourishment

Open Optimism

Perfumed peace

Regal rejoycing

Special strength smile

Tidy Trust

Unity Up

Visual Vitamins

Wonderful world

MAKE EVERY ADJECTIVE A GLADJECTIVE: Ex: nice, beautiful, fine, gorgeous, awesome, …

MAKE EVERY ADVERB A GLADVERB: Ex: happily, wonderfully, extraordinarily, funnily …  

TURN EVERY VERB INTO A GLAD-VERB: (List 5 verbs)

TURN EVERY NOUN INTO A GLAD-NOUN: (List 5 nouns)

 Can words kill people?

If you could kill a word what word would you kill?

Ex: die; dead; death; darkness, envy, enemy, misery, mediocrity, trouble, conflict, stress, worries, pain, fear, lies, hate, traitor, Satan, war, Greed, anger, toxic, poison, doom and gloom, etc..

The power of words is such that psychologists use several intense tests to reflect it. In one of them you are asked to write on a piece of paper the name of someone very dear to you.

Once you have written the name of that beloved person, folded and kept it, the tester tells you: “The person whose name you have written is going to die a horrible death”. (Sighs… shock.. disbelief…)

When we were at boarding school the head told us that if we tried those strawberries we would perish in terrible circumstances. (The same biblical story of the forbidden fruit) When we were travelling by train we drank train water which said non-drinkable; since we were very thirsty, first we drank and then realized our mistake expecting nausea, vomit, and the worst…

Some people´s lives are determined by powerful words such as: productivity, hatred, running, hunting, Spain; or “sacred” words such as Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Moses, etc..

Write five more examples of words which can determine a person´s life.

A reminder that there's one word in the English language that can be a noun, verb, adjective, adverb and preposition. It is in the list above. Which one is it?

By way of curiosity these words are synonymous with which English adjective?:

 Amusing, comical, droll, excentric, funny, mischievious, odd, unusual, weird, arbitrary, capricious, chancy, chimerical,curious, dicey, erratic, fantastic, flaky, freakish, kinky,peculiar, quaint, queer, quizzical, singular, uncertain, unpredictable, waggish, wayward! (Thanks, Norma)

Happiness is a noun but it should be a verb. Can you think of similar words and ideas?