Welcome to “Off the Clock,” a little something that lands somewhere between Timeless & Timely.
I send out this fun look at language and words every other Saturday as bonus content. If someone sent this to you, please consider subscribing.
Some days, it feels like the world’s headlines are written in a language of fracture — pieces of news so discordant that even the syntax aches under their weight.
We see suffering in large numbers, conflict breaking over families and communities, and a sense that ugliness has come out of its corners and taken center stage. Was it always thus, we wonder.
But even there, in the tangle of human struggle, language reminds us of something true: beauty can exist alongside chaos. Not in naïve denial, but in the quiet constancy of words that have stood across centuries. Words that carry not only definitions, but echoes of a gentle breeze on a summer day, the hush of early dawn, and the sound of a voice we loved long after it is gone.
Writers and linguists have long marveled at the way certain words seem to resonate deeper than others, not just for what they mean, but for how they sound in our minds and mouths. 1
Some have suggested criteria for this feeling: a blend of rhythm, soft consonants, and a melodic flow that makes the word itself seem like a kind of small music. Linguist Dr. Robert Beard compiled a list of The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English. (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
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