Quote

Word books traditionally focus on unusual and quirky items. They tend to ignore the words that provide the skeleton of the language, without which it would fall apart, such as 'and' and 'what,' or words that provide structure to our conversation, such as 'hello.'

— David Crystal

Sentiment: NEGATIVE

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✓Similar Perspectives

I have my own vocabulary. I love linguistics. That surprises people.

— Matthew McConaughey

Words do two major things: They provide food for the mind and create light for understanding and awareness.

— Jim Rohn

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.

— Maya Angelou

Vocabulary is a matter of word-building as well as word-using.

— David Crystal

If words are doing their job, then their novelty will not be the most noticeable thing about them.

— Erin McKean

I'm a teacher and a writer; my life is words. When I see the denigration of language, it hurts me, and it's easy to denigrate a word by trivializing it.

— Elie Wiesel

It's fortunate that I am a writer, because that has helped me understand the properties of words. They are what have made life complex. In the battle for status in the animal kingdom, power and aggressiveness have been all-important. But among humans, once they acquired speech, all that changed.

— Tom Wolfe

Words are the basic tools, if you are a writer.

— James Houston

A word is an arbitrary label - that's the foundation of linguistics. But many people think otherwise. They believe in word magic: that uttering a spell, incantation, curse, or prayer can change the world. Don't snicker: Would you ever say, 'Nothing has gone wrong yet' without looking for wood to knock?

— Steven Pinker

I'm very sensitive to the English language. I studied the dictionary obsessively when I was a kid and collect old dictionaries. Words, I think, are very powerful and they convey an intention.

— Drew Barrymore

✗Opposing Perspectives

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