Jane Palen
Managing Editor

If that headline got your attention, itís because another perfectly good word has been taken out of circulation not because of its meaning, but because of its association.

I am of the opinion that there are no true synonyms. Every word has its own connotations and nuances that canít be transferred to another word. Take ìqueerî for example. Thatís a great word, and I miss it. Strange and a little unsettling but not quite scary.

Of course, now it is a derogatory term for ìgay,î which used to mean happy and lighthearted but now means homosexual. I used the ìhappyî definition when my daughter Annie was young because I didnít want to get into the other meaning. So, whenever the term was used, she would announce that her brother was gay. We had the talk after all, and now sheís got it all straight (and her brother is straight as well).

I have heard the song ìDeck the Hallsî sung with ìfineî apparel taking the place of ìgay.î

And letís look at the term ìcolored.î I think most of us know by now that itís no longer appropriate to refer to people as ìcolored.î But in recent years, we starting hearing about ìpeople of color.î So we can say ìPeople of colorî but not ìcolored people.î

I recently saw a billboard for a law firm that depicted the constitution and had the words, ì Protecting your rights then and now.î Imagine if the words were rearranged to read ìProtecting your rights now and then.î It would definitely put a different spin on the message.

I really like words. It takes me a long time to look something up in the dictionary, and itís not because I am singing the alphabet song in my head. Itís because I am sidetracked by words that interest me.

Several times when I was a child I used words I thought I knew, but didnít. When my dad was leaving for the week on business, I told him ìGood riddance.î Another time, a friendly store owner gave me a free item and I called him a ìcheapskate.î Since then, Iíve tried hard to use only words I know.

I donít quite understand why some perfectly good words are replaced. Why is a movie preview now a ìtrailerî? That doesnít make sense to me, but ìpreviewî did. A trailer doesnít trail anything.

And why is a song remake now called a ìcoverî? Does that tell us anything?

Of course, words can cause confusion; take the soldier who told his fianceí that he drew KP duty because he had a dirty magazine. She said, ìI donít know why you have to read that kind of magazine anyway!î

She was relieved to find out his magazine fit a rifle.

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