Pithy Language

Last week we talked about letting the feel and sound of language guide us into meaning. We endeavored to revel in the visceral impact of language, specifically, the rough and raw words in the English language that come down from Old English or Anglo-Saxon, a language with no rhyme or reason. Silent Gs. H’s in odd places. Unlike Latin and the Romance Languages which sprung from its mathematical logic, Anglo-Saxon makes no sense in an intellectual way, but touches us with it’s chaos of guttural and evocative sounds.

It’s easy to spot these words. They are unwieldy, often have mysterious spellings (“thought,” “phlegm,” “ghost”), and evoke emotions and images.

Merriam Webster describes the Anglo-Saxon language as: “brief, forceful, and meaningful in expression; full of vigor, substance, or meaning; terse; forcible.”

This week, we talk about crafting our own talks and presentations while inviting in that wild and wooly language.

English-language speeches etched into our history are often populated with short, terse, pithy, Anglo-Saxon words. It is said that the brilliance of Winston Churchill’s performance is outdone only by his deft use of Anglo-Saxon words. Here is the text of one of Churchill’s most famous speeches given June 1940. I’ve bolded the Anglo-Saxon and put the Latin root words in italics.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…

Latin, the root of the Romance Languages, is also the language of medicine and law. It is precise and logical. Latin words are wonderful, but if you want to move people to action, use Anglo-Saxon.

Notice I did not say to ‘utilize’ or ‘leverage’ Anglo-Saxon, but to ‘use” it. Can you hear the difference? ‘Leverage’ and ‘utilize’ have Latin roots. “Use’ is short and sweet, one syllable, more of a sound that a structure. As I remind my corporate clients, my father, Warren Bennis, wrote 30 business books. Yet he never utilized the word ‘leverage,’ nor leveraged the word ‘utilize.’

Overuse of Latin words can sound jargony and leave our audience cold or confused. Even in work cultures that seem to demand jargon, I ask that we resist.

This week, play with pithy language. Here is a marvelous list of some Anglo-Saxon words as a place to start!

P.S. The photo in this post is of John Douglas Thompson. I stumbled upon this production of The Merchant of Venice starring Thompson at the Theater for a New Audience in Brooklyn. I’ve been lucky enough to see some of the greatest actors alive perform Shakespeare and yet, witnessing Mr. Thompson inhabit the character of Shylock shook me. He is an actor who speaks Shakespeare’s Anglo-Saxon verse as if it is the only true way to express the character’s meaning; his whole being speaks. A truly remarkable actor. Look for him. As the New York Times reported, John Douglas Thompson is “perhaps the greatest Shakespeare interpreter in contemporary American theater.” I couldn’t agree more.