Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first Africa-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet
Chinedu Stanley Igwe-Acholonu, an award-winning film/movie director, is a special projects contributor to USAfrica. The following are his 2024 birthday musings.
I have always loved words. I recall that during high school in the 1980s in Owerri, Imo State of Nigeria, I enjoyed the study of words. The logic, I reasoned, was simple: we think in words: words are the tools of our thoughts. With words, we express our beliefs. With words, we encourage others to act upon our beliefs, which I will show later in the story. Others judge us by how we use words. Most standardized tests rely upon word identification in synonyms, antonyms and analogies. I see words as the smallest separatable unit in our spoken language, and when crafting our thoughts, we look at them as entities separated by space, which becomes impracticable in our elemental rules of writing and becomes less prepossessing in our cacography.
Different environments, people, and even opportunities to stand up for our beliefs and values all for our ability to use words in a manner understandable to the subculture am addressing here. The French say that truth lies in nuances, and with the fine nuances of words we connect and communicate. Words are our showcase to the world. With words, we create the perception we want to present. Indeed, words are of great price. In fact, the power of a word is incalculable.
To my understanding, the average adult probably has a vocabulary of thirty to sixty thousand words. The highly literate may extend to one hundred thousand words. Yet the English language has well over one million words. Moving above the thirty thousand words range will enhance our communication skills because we form concepts that help our businesses and careers with words – words are so inalienable in our survival as humans.
Every day in our busy schedules and grammatical functions, we conjugate smaller pieces of words known as morphemes which help us try to pair form, sound, and sign to communicate clearly. In our intricate dance of language, words like constellations, illuminate our understanding of things.
It amazes me so profoundly; how puissant words can be. At the beginning of my writing career, I was bemused and stultified by the term known as lexical ambiguity where you have the presence of two or more possible meanings for a single word.
Another inexorable one was syntactic ambiguity which involves multiple meanings within a sentence, however, lexical ambiguity focuses on individual words. Interestingly, I have devoted four paragraphs above just to prepare your minds on how dangerous, proverbial, discombobulating, inimical, vellicate, pejorative and blandishing words can be, when wrongly used or applied deceptively for evil and diabolic objectives. Now welcome to my birthday gift, a special article on the power of words about the good, the bad and the tyrants that history immortalized because of how they conjugated and manipulated words in an inciting way.
These orators, writers, scientists, inventors, prophets, philosophers and many more, transcended their time, leaving behind a legacy of words that continue to inspire and challenge us. Their ability to move and manipulate hearts and minds underscores the enduring power of words. Words are more than mere symbols; they actually shape our realities, express our deepest thoughts, and connect us across time and culture. From biblical excerpts of King Solomon in the Psalms to Shakespeare’s prolific writings.
This brings my mind to Winston Churchill who evinced an unparalleled eloquence with the English language in his time. He often chose, from his vast array of vocabulary words, rhetoric to stir the souls of his countrymen. With lucidity and majestic style, he rallied England in a desperate hour during 2nd World War with these words “ I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat’, In 1953, Churchill won the Nobel Prize in literature for his mastery of the historical and biographical presentation and brilliant oratory. History paid him great homage for his use and mastery of words.
“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration” Thomas Alva Edison on 1847-1931. Most scholars consider Edison to have possessed the highest IQ of the last one thousand years. In the light that, his above statement should illuminate and encourage anyone who aspires to be brilliant through the simple effort of learning new words. By the age of nine, Edison had read ‘The Penny Encyclopedia, Sears’s History of the World, Hume’s History of England, and Gibson’s Rome.’ As he read, when he came across any difficult word or sentence, he would not simply pass it over, as many of those reading this piece will do, but would have his mother explain the word or phrase. This effort increased Edison’s mental powers and led to the creation of a brilliant mind, which would give the world the greatest inventions that moved mankind to great civilizations.
Solomon is identified as the greatest and wisest of all the Kings that ever lived, as written in the Bible. This was an excerpt from his conversation with God in 1 Kings 3:9-13 “ Therefore give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil. The speech or the words pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. Then God said to him “ Because you have asked for this thing, and have not asked for long life for yourself, nor have asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you ….
The above words between Solomon and God were rendered in an unprecedented absoluteness. In the elemental use of the English language, the synonyms for the word “ wise “ include astute, bright, brilliant, clearheaded, clever, commonsensical, discerning, insightful, intelligent, judicious, perceptive, perspicacious, prudent, rational, reasonable, sagacious, sapient, sensible, smart, sound and understanding. All these words point to gaining knowledge and increasing our mental capacity to apply all that knowledge in all areas of life.
Just as Solomon asked for wisdom and received it. Incidentally, a prudent study of words wouldn’t hurt our endeavor for wisdom. Exercising our God-given minds is crucial for gaining wisdom like Solomon.
“ Mend your speech a little, lest you may mar your fortunes” William Shakespeare 1564 – 1616, is considered the greatest writer in English. His literary masterpieces include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Anthony and Cleopatra, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, just to name a few.
Shakespeare sprinkled just the right words in just the right places to make a specific point, define a character, create drama, continue the plot, or provide a punch of comedy.
Words such as besieged, muting, yoke, munition, writhed, captivate, quillets, empress, forsworn, verbosity, abominable, frantic, wherefore, nunnery, divinity and countless more may not be used as frequently today, but they made Shakespeare’s work come alive and stand the test of time. Like a master craftsman, Shakespeare used his knowledge of words to entertain audiences for over five hundred years now. Parts of speech serve as the foundation of literacy and our learning of various words, which become the building blocks of the English Language.
“ Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven you” Ephesians 4:31-32 Incidentally, the book of Ephesians I referenced above was written by the Apostle Paul and is one of the Epistles in the Bible. An Epistle is a literary work in the form of a series of letters. There was an extensive use of “ Synonyms in Paul’s letters. How knowledgeable are you about synonyms for various words?
Interestingly, the English Language has a plethora of words dealing with various nuances and synonyms of anger, and by contrast, it has a relative paucity of words regarding the munificence of humankind. The quote from Apostle Paul details some of the words representing anger. Clamor is one such word: it means “ vehement protest “as we have been seeing on the news around the world recently. I think other synonyms for anger may include antagonism, choler, fury, indignation, ire, irritation, outrage, pique, rage, and vexation. (To be continued in Parts 2 and 3, exclusively, on USAfricaonline.com and our interactive platforms)
USAfrica: To Achebe, eagle on the iroko, tribute to my mentor. By Chido Nwangwu
Words are pillars erected to ramp the structures that sustain every communication. Good job there from Stanley Acholonu on that piece. Interesting read.