Letter from Boston
Words Don't Bite, Or Do They?
My colleague, Jeff, never gets upset when his friends swear at him. He also expects others to reciprocate in kind, and feels that the world would be a better place if everyone, particularly his coworkers, react to verbal assaults with equanimity. "Words don't bite," he says. If he swears, you will hardly notice any emotion either in his face or voice to suggest that he is insulting or trying to hurt the interlocutor!
Of course, his views are not necessarily shared by others. One could debate whether the world would be a more peaceful place if we all played by the rules, but that is not to be. In the world of politics, for example, where anyone who watches public debates on political or economic issues knows how choice of words can make or break a person or a policy. In the recent US Presidential elections, John McCain made the fatal mistake of using the two words, "fundamentally sound," to describe the state of the US economy in September. Oops! Wrong words at the wrong time. Some have speculated that his real intention was to give hope to a nervous populace, and not to give the Bush Administration a clean bill of health, which is how it was perceived. His detractors have attributed it to McCain's lack of understanding of the fundamental principles of economics. Be that what it may, once he uttered the words, nothing he subsequently said or did could undo the damage that was done. Reminded me of Omar Khayyam:
The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it. Obama, on the other hand, uses words wisely and eloquently. It is generally acknowledged that his road to victory was in no small measure paved by his ability to articulate issues with well-crafted sentences, and his well-honed mastery of the delivery mechanism. Any student of US politics would do well to look at his "Race Speech" delivered in the heat of the Democratic primary campaign. At a crucial moment when some words and condemnations uttered by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor, threatened to exacerbate the inter-racial tension and derail Obama's grasp of the nomination, he stood back and addressed the American people. The speech, also known as the "A More Perfect Union" speech, laid out his view of the racial issues, not the most exciting subject. However, what made the difference were Obama's artistry and his ability to convey his message in magical terms. Words and their interplay are fascinating in the legal arena too. An interesting aspect of the Inauguration was the faux pas committed by Chief Justice Roberts while swearing in Barack Obama. Justice Roberts misplaced a couple of words, which herald in the new chief executive. According to the US Constitution, the oath that a President takes reads as follows: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." However, Justice Roberts moved the word "faithfully" from before "execute" to after "United States". In addition, the words "office of President" came out as "office to President". The millions of people gathered at the Washington Mall, or were watching on TV, did not catch this sleight of words, and those who did were inclined to overlook such minor discrepancies. However, the impact of Justice Roberts' rearrangement of a few words turned out to be quite different in this age of instant messaging and global networking. Pretty soon rumors started to circulate that because of Justice Roberts' arbitrary juxtaposition of words, President Obama and his assumption of office could be challenged in court on a technicality. As we all know, America is a nation of lawyers, and some crack lawyer, or a crackpot, might decide to have some fun by challenging the President by filing a motion with a lower level judge in an obscure court willing to issue an injunction. Fortunately for us, Justice Roberts soon contacted the White House and offered to administer the oath a second time at the President's convenience in the latter's office, which was done on January 21st. Let me end this letter with an anecdote. In an article for this newspaper, I used the word abhiman to describe a sentiment with a very Bengali meaning. I had trouble finding an English word (or for that matter in any other language) that one would associate with abhiman. I used the word "pique" and placed it alongside abhiman for the benefit of non-Bengali readers. Little did I anticipate the flurry of emails and comments from readers who basically took umbrage at my "glib" attempt at trying to pass off lowly pique to capture the exalted feeling of abhiman. A friend of mine wrote, "I asked my son who is an English major from BU and is intensely involved in English literature, about any English word for obhimaan. …. He told me, "Abbu, how do you think there can ever be an English word for obhimaan?" After reading these "fan" mail, I was feeling a little grumpy and started commiserating with Rumi, my wife. After listening to me patiently for a few minutes, her only reaction was, "Moina, you are taking things too personally!" Ouch, that hurt! I wish Jeff were around to enjoy this conversation.
Moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it. Obama, on the other hand, uses words wisely and eloquently. It is generally acknowledged that his road to victory was in no small measure paved by his ability to articulate issues with well-crafted sentences, and his well-honed mastery of the delivery mechanism. Any student of US politics would do well to look at his "Race Speech" delivered in the heat of the Democratic primary campaign. At a crucial moment when some words and condemnations uttered by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor, threatened to exacerbate the inter-racial tension and derail Obama's grasp of the nomination, he stood back and addressed the American people. The speech, also known as the "A More Perfect Union" speech, laid out his view of the racial issues, not the most exciting subject. However, what made the difference were Obama's artistry and his ability to convey his message in magical terms. Words and their interplay are fascinating in the legal arena too. An interesting aspect of the Inauguration was the faux pas committed by Chief Justice Roberts while swearing in Barack Obama. Justice Roberts misplaced a couple of words, which herald in the new chief executive. According to the US Constitution, the oath that a President takes reads as follows: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." However, Justice Roberts moved the word "faithfully" from before "execute" to after "United States". In addition, the words "office of President" came out as "office to President". The millions of people gathered at the Washington Mall, or were watching on TV, did not catch this sleight of words, and those who did were inclined to overlook such minor discrepancies. However, the impact of Justice Roberts' rearrangement of a few words turned out to be quite different in this age of instant messaging and global networking. Pretty soon rumors started to circulate that because of Justice Roberts' arbitrary juxtaposition of words, President Obama and his assumption of office could be challenged in court on a technicality. As we all know, America is a nation of lawyers, and some crack lawyer, or a crackpot, might decide to have some fun by challenging the President by filing a motion with a lower level judge in an obscure court willing to issue an injunction. Fortunately for us, Justice Roberts soon contacted the White House and offered to administer the oath a second time at the President's convenience in the latter's office, which was done on January 21st. Let me end this letter with an anecdote. In an article for this newspaper, I used the word abhiman to describe a sentiment with a very Bengali meaning. I had trouble finding an English word (or for that matter in any other language) that one would associate with abhiman. I used the word "pique" and placed it alongside abhiman for the benefit of non-Bengali readers. Little did I anticipate the flurry of emails and comments from readers who basically took umbrage at my "glib" attempt at trying to pass off lowly pique to capture the exalted feeling of abhiman. A friend of mine wrote, "I asked my son who is an English major from BU and is intensely involved in English literature, about any English word for obhimaan. …. He told me, "Abbu, how do you think there can ever be an English word for obhimaan?" After reading these "fan" mail, I was feeling a little grumpy and started commiserating with Rumi, my wife. After listening to me patiently for a few minutes, her only reaction was, "Moina, you are taking things too personally!" Ouch, that hurt! I wish Jeff were around to enjoy this conversation.
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