Wednesday, November 09, 2016

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: _________ .

Welcome to another installment of SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS, a regular Wednesday feature at NA Confidential.

But why all these newfangled words?

Why not the old, familiar, comforting words, like the ones you're sure to hear when asking the city's corporate attorney why the answers to my FOIA/public records request for Bicentennial commission finances, due to be handed over on July 8, still haven't arrived on November 9?

Bicentennial commission financial trail? What's two (yawn) weeks (shrug) after 463 days?

November 9 update: Make that 18 weeks since the FOIA record request's due date and 574 days since I asked Bullet Bob Caesar to tell us how many coffee table books were left unsold, and how much the city's 200-year "summer of love" fest actually cost us. It's with Indiana's public access counselor now, and a verdict is to be rendered no later than the first week of December, so perhaps "compliance" would be a word for future consideration. 

No, it's because a healthy vocabulary isn't about intimidation through erudition. Rather, it's about selecting the right word and using it correctly, whatever one's pay grade or station in life.

Even these very same iniquitous, paving-bond-slush-engorged municipal corporate attorneys who customarily are handsomely remunerated to suppress information can benefit from this enlightening expansion of personal horizons, and really, as we contemplate what they knew and when they knew it, all we have left is plenty of time -- and the opportunity to learn something, if we're so inclined.

Today, literally, we have no words.

"I have no words."

It can have different meanings. In this context seems it is closer to I am shocked and cannot find any words to console you or any words would only aggravate the situation, so I better not say anything. But generally, it can also express excitement, amusement, surprise, and many other feelings. Here are a couple of quotes I found:

"We have no words for speaking of wisdom to the stupid. He who understands the wise is wise already." - G.C. Lichtenberg

"I have no words for my reality." - Max Frisch

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