By Bob Groeneveld
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How did the word 鈥渨ord鈥� happen? From what nook or cranny of some long-forgotten brain did it spring?
How did someone stumble upon the idea that a word should be identified as a word by using the word 鈥渨ord鈥�.
Words like bang and boom make perfect sense. They convey the sounds of what they mean.
In fact, there鈥檚 even a word for that: onomatopoeia. (Which of course leaves you wondering 鈥� at least if you wonder the way I wonder 鈥� how onomatopoeia could possibly have come to be the word that means onomatopoeia.)
But 鈥渨ord鈥�?
After all, not all words sound like 鈥渨ord鈥�.
Indeed, very few words sound anything at all like 鈥渨ord鈥�. Check out this sentence 鈥� the only words here that sound like 鈥渨ord鈥� are the words that are 鈥渨ord鈥�.
Clearly, an Angle or maybe a Saxon must have been floating around inside his head when he thought words should be words.
But it definitely was not a Frenchman 鈥� a denizen of the other language from which English was eventually concocted 鈥� who came up with 鈥渨ord鈥�. He must have been floating in a different part of his head, because the French word for 鈥渨ord鈥� is 鈥渕ot鈥� 鈥� which is actually just as arbitrary, and indeed equally silly to the English word for 鈥渨ord鈥�.
But don鈥檛 quote me on that word for 鈥渨ord鈥�.
I鈥檓 sure that it will come as no surprise to you that I was smoking something that it is now legal to smoke the first time I ever wondered about the absurd sound of the word (aha! Absurd as it sounds, absurd at least sounds a bit like 鈥渨ord鈥濃�� but I digress) that describes all of the rich and wonderful sounding words that make up our language,.
What may surprise you, however, is that I haven鈥檛 smoked any in years 鈥� not since many years before it became legal.
What surprises me, is that I have remained intermittently fixated on 鈥渨ord鈥� long since the one time that that substance optimized my consciousness to the point where I felt it necessary to explore the sound, the abstract meaning, the gut feeling of that particular word as the base of all words.
I sometimes catch myself mouthing the word, rolling it around in my head, delving into the way it feels there, checking it out from every angle (but never from any Saxon )鈥� and I tell myself to cut it out, or to quit it, or to halt, or to be done with it, or to鈥� and then discover that I鈥檝e transferred my obsession from 鈥渨ord鈥� to the words I use to try to stop it鈥� it? Where does 鈥渋t鈥� come from? And why does it come 鈥渇rom鈥� anywhere? 鈥淲here鈥濃��
You see?
All I have to do is start with a simple 鈥渨ord,鈥� and all too often, I have no idea where it will lead me.
And thus, it appears, the word has become my life.
