Too Many Words!

Proverbs 10:19  Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.

Noah Webster's original dictionary, published in 1806, contained only about 37,000 words. However, by 1961 the English dictionary contained over 458,000 words. Today, there are approximately 600,000 words in the English language. That means there are a lot of new words being created and finding their way into our vocabulary. Words such as: hellscape, baby mama, nearlywed, cakeage, and many more.

600,000 is a lot of words, and I have been in conversations where people have tried to use all of them. Politicians seem to have the knack of saying a lot of words that essentially mean nothing. Here’s a recent example: “So I think it's very important, as you have heard from so many incredible leaders for us at every moment in time and certainly this one, to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present, and to be able to contextualize it, to understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past but the future.” Huh? That quote reminds me of school papers I have graded where they are trying to reach a word count, and just adding things.

One of my favorite quotes from Mark Twain is, “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

Today’s verse from Proverbs is a call to quit trying to sound smart. The more words you use, the less intelligent you sound. So today, take it down a notch. You’ll sound much smarter!

Today’s Readings: Proverbs 10-12; Romans 10

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