Everyday Canvas

Weighing Our Words

“Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit”
Rabindranath Tagore—Where the Mind Is Without Fear

Prompt: Have you ever regretted your words that have sprung up from habit or do you know someone who does that? Why do you think people sometimes answer questions or talk in ready-made phrases, instead of paying attention to meaning?

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If we stopped and thought of every word that comes out of our mouths, we could say good-bye to any lively conversation. Then, if a question is of the commonplace sort, doesn’t it make sense to just answer it with the easiest ready-made comment? For example, to “How’s it going?” we may reply as “Fine, thanks,” or “So-so,” which would be sufficient to start a conversation. I guess we could think of clever answers to a regular question like “How are you?” but wouldn’t that be a waste of time?

Besides, the habitual answers have their uses, too. Little children and the new learners of English usually memorize those ready-made answers, so they can have a conversation with others and improve their speeches.

In scholarly writing, however, we need to weigh and choose our words well. In that respect, I am with Tagore one hundred per cent because being lazy and falling into the habit of using clichés or oft-used phrases would cheapen our work, leaching out the originality from its body.