Words can make or break a person’s life, can start wars or bring peace. Words can indeed be mightier than a sword! Words have the energy, the power and the ability to help, to heal, to hurt, to harm or humiliate. Knowing the strength of the words we utter, we must discipline ourselves to speak in a way that conveys respect, gentleness and humility.

It was Albert Mehrabian, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of California, who introduced the 7-38-55 rule. According to him, in any communication 7 per cent of the meaning is communicated through spoken word, 38 per cent through the tone of voice, and 55 per cent through body language. He says the non-verbal elements in communication are more important, and it really reveals the person. Though words matter only 7 per cent, in real life we know how important words are. Many of us might have been hurt by someone or we might have hurt someone with our wrong choice of words. For many, your words have been a life-changing experience and for some it has been a devastating experience.

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Words are really powerful! They reflect or mirror our thoughts and feelings. So, we have to think about our words, understand our words, watch and weigh our words. Words are containers for power, and so we have to decide what sort of power we want our words to carry. Our words can augment or diminish our level of contentment. They can shape the answers to our prayers and have a positive or negative upshot on our future. One might say that our words are like a movie screen that uncovers what we have been thinking and our attitudes. The saying, “Watch your words or your words might drown you” is very true.

The need to gauge one’s words or utterances is very significant. Every word that comes out from our mouth comes from a thought — whether consciously or unconsciously. All of us had some experience of divulging something out, and also of thinking we said something that we didn’t. If we think happy thoughts, we’ll talk happily. If we think unattractive thoughts, our words will be unattractive, too.

Power of our words

Our tongue can be a weapon of fury or a negotiator of blessing. It has been said that the “tongue” is one of the most exercised muscles of our body. Our tongue reveals what is in our heart! Behind our tongue is our heart, from where good or nefarious assertions come.

Words have the power for good or evil. A good word will build up, strengthen, and encourage us. But a careless word can tear down homes, break hearts, and shatter reputations as they wound, sadden, hurt, and destroy. Words converse louder than our actions.

One of our deepest needs is the need to be appreciated. When we use words of gentleness, positive reception, and appreciation of worth, we communicate love. A slapdash word is thoughtless, lacking in consideration for others, and inconsiderate. Let us talk about what we love and not about what we hate; what is great in our life and not about what’s wrong. Negative comments reach out faster than positive ones! Gautam Buddha rightly said, “Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care, for people will be influenced by them for good or ill.”

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If one country tries to attack the other, of course, the other one answers with guns ready. Both end up fighting and the loss is not just to one side; even the winner loses something or the other… maybe financially or by death of soldiers. All in all, a loss is a loss, whether it’s a big or small.

Why didn’t they just make use of words? Was it because they were short of words or that they didn’t have the knowledge of suitable words? Neither of the two is the answer. The answer being, we believe in the use of actions. “Actions speak louder than words” is our take!

“Words speak louder than actions” is a quote that reminds me to be vigilant so that I don’t practise it vice versa. Doing the opposite, to me means committing murder!

Words are of our choice; we decide which ones to use, when and how. That isn’t the case with actions; sometimes actions end up conveying the wrong message. We possess limitations in actions. That is not the case with words. In our days, a person who has a good vocabulary and is able to converse well gains respect from everyone.

Words don’t mean penning something down on a piece of a paper or reading a book. Words define us. Words are our strength. Well-chosen words have the power to change a lot! Words display our inner and outer doings to everyone around us. Something with which we express our thoughts, our feelings, our emotions, is what we define as “words”, and not actions. Everyone, including the blind and the deaf, can make use of words.

Life is possible not with the use of gadgets. Words are our basic actions in our everyday life. Words may or may not be always correct, yet those five letters, W-O-R-D-S, well used, can bring in harmony.

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Speak of the word ‘dictionary’ and what comes to our minds first is the image of a voluminous book consisting of thousands of pages with lakhs of informative entries on a wide range of facts and figures that so closely relate to the various domains of homo sapiens. Usually we use dictionaries to look up the meanings, spellings and various features of unfamiliar words. But the usefulness of a dictionary goes far beyond all this.

In fact, using a dictionary effectively is an art, the mastery of which calls for painstaking effort, hard labour and an undying yearning. A dictionary is an ocean of information relating to words. Generally, we use it for learning only the meanings of words. So the gold mine of information, facts and figures, grammar, etc., on learning the language remains unexplored.

Here are some ways to master the art of using the dictionary:

Choosing a standard dictionary is the most important task. As per the latest trends, the dictionaries of Longman, Webster, Oxford and Collins CoBuild are considered to be of standard quality and practical usage.

For the effective and best use of a dictionary, it is very important to read its introduction. This provides us with vital information about how the words in the dictionary have been arranged.

Dictionaries use a particular set of abbreviations. Before using them, it is very important to get acquainted with those acronyms.

We also need to know the various symbols’ pronunciation. These symbols guide us about how to correctly pronounce a particular word.

After finding a particular word in the dictionary, we must take time to learn the following aspects of it:

(a) The most common meaning of the word.
(b) The correct pronunciation of the word.
(c) The type of the part of speech of the word.
(d) The synonyms of the word.
(e) The antonyms of the word.
(f) The origin of the word.
(g) The phrasal verbs and idioms associated with the word.
(h) The foreign word for that particular word.
(i) The usage of the word in various sentences.

Apart from the above information about words, a dictionary is also a unique conglomeration of a diverse nature of facts and figures relating to the history, economy, geography, currencies, cities, capitals, national flags, personalities, events and so other important things about countries across the world.

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You are peace
You are war
You are love
You are pain
You are fear
And yet by you,
People conquer.

Some say
You are weak,
Yet you lead.
You are powerful
And can make eyes bleed.

You can win hearts
You can tear people apart
You can regret
You are pink and violet
You are serene
And yet violent.

You are everything in action
And yet nothing without a reaction
You are a perception, a view,
It is all on how a person uses you.
He can make you beautiful,
He can make you ugly,
He may give you kisses,
And yet deep scars, too.

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He was a risk taker who took pleasure in flirting with life and its dangers.

She had always been fascinated with words. One look at her face clearly gave away how she was so smitten by them.

It amazed her how words could simply be strung together, in the right combination, to create something so unbelievably powerful. But she also thought that the kind of power words held was dangerous. You could either get hurt by their sharp edges or comforted by their warmth. There was no telling. And the fact that they had the potential to either make or break you was excitingly scary for her.

Life didn’t approve of his adrenaline induced high or reckless ways. But he was a smooth talker; or as she would put it, he “had a way with words” and always managed to get away with trouble. He believed in living on the edge. The danger, the risks and the adrenaline pumping through his veins made it all worthwhile.

Now, once upon a word, they met. They were intrigued by the electrifying rush the other could give. So being the risk taker that he was, he made emotions the bullet, let the words pull the trigger and aimed for her heart. And being the wordsmith that she was, she beautifully made his heart her masterpiece.

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