Dr. Willard Funk, the widely admired dictionary publisher, was once asked to perform a monumental task on the part of a wordsmith: choosing the 10 most expressive words in the English language. Here, to entertain and engage you, is our boy Willard’s top 10 list:
the most bitter word — alone
the most tragic — death
the most reverend — mother
the most beautiful — love
the most cruel — revenge
the most peaceful — tranquil
the saddest — forgotten
the warmest — friendship
the coldest — no
the most comforting — faith
Mmmm … what a fascinating exercise! Which words would I choose, I wonder? To my mind, there’s something powerful, provocative, and useful about this challenge — something that might enliven our work. It may be worth coming up with our own expressive-word entries. Which would you choose? Something to ponder and play with as we all write on!