There are a number of reasons I prefer writing to speaking (there are a number of reasons I prefer speaking to writing as well, at least until they invent a sarcasm punctuation mark), and the most prominent reason is the existence of "Writing Only Words". These are those words that, for some reason or another, only carry their true weight when written down, and are very hard to use in speech.
Let is start with "Naught". I love the word. For those of you who don't know, it means Zero or Nothing.
Examples: "I know naught of what you speak." or "I have naught to offer you in return."
Unfortunately, this word has a homonym which is extremely common: not. Common Homonyms are the number one cause of writing only words, but this is the worst. People usually think I mean "not" when I say "naught", which leads them to believe I am trying to sound really smart by making my sentence unintelligible.
The next one that bugs me is "ere". This is a slightly archaic word, but I like it. It means before.
Examples: "I must go ere they discover where I am hiding." or "We must leave ere the sun rises"
"Ere" is again rendered useless in speech by the existence of common homonyms, in this case "air" and "heir". Also, the word loses its zing when you say it out loud, it almost sounds unfinished.
Some other examples include: "aught" (the opposite of naught, usually confused with "ought"), and those words that just sound pompous when used in speech like "hitherto", "henceforth" and "heretofore".
So I have to divide my speech amongst writing and talking. The former for Writing Only Words, and the latter for sarcasm and melodrama. |
