Monday, March 12, 2007

Haunted by words

Do you ever become fascinated by a particular word? Entranced? Haunted? Do they take on the power of incantation? Recently the word, "union," is always slipping around in the shadows of my mind, darting in and out of my peripheral vision.

8 comments:

JimII said...

It's a rich word. I just got back from dropping of my wedding band to have it resized, so I can again display my union. We talk about the Union, and unions.

Hmm. I'm now experiencing the opposite effect--when the word stops have any meaning and starts to look mispelled.

Unknown said...

Purpose.

Odd timing, your post. I would have said that the idea of a "haunting" word was foreign at just about any other time.

Anna said...

Happiness.

Josh Gentry said...

Jim, it is a rich word. The constellation of meanings that surround a word has always been one of the most fascinating of mankind's creations, to me.

Another fascinating things is when a word loses that constellation by becoming a label. Every so often I am startled by realizing the literal meaning of words that have become labels. I can't think of one right now, of course.

Josh Gentry said...

Purpose. I can see it. We are haunted by it because we need it but its elusive, right? And yet, there is some question if there is such a thing.

Josh Gentry said...

Happiness. :-) Similar to, and even related to purpose, in that we need it, we chase, do we ever catch it? What does it mean to be happy? How do you know you're happy? Can it last? Is it a meaningful idea?

Fun project would be a graphical representation of the relationships of words. Try to draw the constellations.

royb0t said...

Lucid.

Influenced from my personal interest in dreams I'm sure, but ultimately a word I find myself always fascinated by no matter what. Even disregarding the meaning, the sound and the look of the word is just as striking to me.

Josh Gentry said...

Lucid is simply lovely, much like union.

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