Games

People play word games all the time. Speaking with someone yesterday, I heard that person say that a third party was speaking to a group and making a distinction between joy and happiness. The third party was saying that people needed to achieve joy in life, not just happiness. Well, OK. So, I wonder how joy stacks up against gladness or contentedness? Is there a distinction there, too? My eyes see a whole lot of overlap in all the above words.

I heard a group of English teachers speaking earlier in the year. They were fussing over the pair of words wear and where. One group said the words were homophones, the other said the h is pronounced in where and the pair could not be homophones. I'm thinking that regional influence plays such a large part in whether the words are homophones or not that there should be no rule of standard English to intervene.

Of course, both these cases are people's attempts at control and probably egocentric flattery. They depict all too well how we as humans try to assert our wills in places we have no business asserting our wills. The Creator can run the universe. All others might want to just let Him do that and butt out. If I take care of getting myself to the other side of this life, then nothing ultimately (or even minute-by-minute) counts. If I really think that pronouncing where as hwer matters in getting to the other side of life, then I'll do it from here on out. But... And if I really think that joy and happiness are different, then I'll be sure to draw that distinction in my speech in all my future talking. But...

Words reveal so much. Even the games people play. In my attempts to be an honest person, I think I will try to dispense with the games. We all know where the spin zones are. I'll reserve my wordgames for those zones. With everyone else I think I will just generate honest talk.