“Fast” is a trick word. It looks simple — everyone knows what fast means — until you try to replace it and discover that English has seven words for “fast” and they refuse to swap. A fast runner is not a rapid runner. A rapid change is not a swift change. A swift reply is … Read more
“Small” looks like a simple word until you try to replace it. A small room, a small mistake, a small chance, a small person, a small salary — five phrases, five different kinds of smallness, and the right synonym changes every time. “Tiny room” works. “Tiny mistake” sounds odd. “Tiny chance” works but “slight chance” … Read more
“Big” is the hardest-working vague word in English, and that is exactly why it causes so much trouble. Say “a big house” and everyone pictures size. Say “a big meeting” and nobody pictures a large room — they picture an important one. Say “a big tip” and you are talking about generosity, not dimensions. Say … Read more
I once read a college essay where the writer called everything beautiful. The campus was beautiful. The professor was beautiful. The idea behind the research was beautiful. By the third paragraph, the word had gone completely numb. Nothing in the essay was ugly — but nothing felt beautiful either, because the word had done all … Read more
On a gray afternoon last winter, a friend texted me that she felt sad. I asked why, and she said nothing had happened — the light had gone early, a song had come on, and the day had simply felt heavy. That is one kind of sad. A different kind arrived in the same week, … Read more
Every birthday card in my house says “happy” somewhere, and most of them mean different things by it. Happy birthday is a wish. “I am happy to help” is not a feeling at all, it is willingness. “A happy accident” is luck. And “a happy marriage” is a whole life, not a mood. Happy is … Read more
Two friends came out of the same film last year. One said it was bad. The other said it was bad too, and they argued for ten minutes before realizing they meant different things: one thought the acting was weak, the other thought the story was upsetting. Bad is a small word carrying a crowd … Read more
A few years ago I helped a friend polish a resume. Every bullet started or ended the same way: good communication skills, good team player, good results, good with clients. Nothing in it was wrong, exactly. It just told the hiring manager nothing she could picture. Was he persuasive, or merely polite? Did his results … Read more
I once edited a report where the word important appeared eleven times in two pages. Important meeting, important decision, important client, important result. That is the real problem with important: it is so useful that we lean on it for everything, and then it tells the reader almost nothing. A manager I worked with did … Read more
