Dawn Goldberg’s Write Well Me blog had an interesting post the other day: Words with Power. She lists words that have a special meaning for her.
Going one better, Nancy Freidman’s Away with words, has a report about the impact different letters of the alphabet have on people.
For what it’s worth, my favourite letter is J and some of my ‘power words’ are:
- Tea
- Help (in every sense)
- Let’s talk
- Start
- Connect
- Consequently
- Because
- You (as when addressing the reader)
- Elbow
- Eiderdown (these last two are more like favourite comfort words)
What are your power words?
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I think this subject is pseudo science. Talking about ‘Power words’ and the importance/relevance of initial letters is akin to phrenology.
Anagrammists, incidentally, mark down ‘J’ in importance, because it’s much harder to anagrammise that. (see http://digbig.com/4kqnw)
But don’t tell the authors of Joomla!
And could I put in a plea to downrate any word that relies on an exclamation mark as part of its name?
Still, here’s my list:
joule
watt
coloumb
forearm
power (is that onomatopoeia?)
onomatopoeia
erection
outstare
Adnam’s Broadside (was ever there such a macho name?)
I know what you mean. I probably should have put ‘Power Words’ in inverted commas.
I did think of another one, though. I see your Adnam’s Broadside and raise you an Occam’s Razor.
As a writer, power words are words that invoke emotion or provoke thought.
Which sentence do you feel has a powerful impact based alone on word choice?
He looked at the barking dog.
He glared at the snarling dog.
My power words can include:
fangs
hate
kill
scowl
growl
lash
moan
dark
blood