The readings for this week reinforced the idea that word choice is an essential component of rhetoric. In Burke’s, Language as Symbolic Action he makes reference to how Pascal found a way around dueling. While his sneakiness had very little to do with language and much more to do with action, his actions were carefully selected in such a way that he could avoid the whole dueling dilemma; the same is often done by rhetoricians in their word choice for speeches. This carefulness was also referred to by Perelman and Olbrechts, especially when they discuss the use of adjectives and adverbs in The New Rhetoric.
All of this careful word choice made me think of my younger sister. I never thought of her as a rhetorician, but these readings have made me wonder if she doesn’t have some natural inclination towards this skill. My sister has a way of persuading people that is frustrating to an older sibling who never seemed to have it so good. I used to blame it on her being the baby, now I wonder if I should blame it on her rhetorical talents. Whenever my sister wants anything in a store, she says, “It’s only $30!” She might even tack on an, “on sale for” before the “only” to sweeten the deal. Sometimes she’ll refer to the original price and make a comparison. To an outsider, she would seem like a salesperson instead of a graduating college student begging her boyfriend for a new pair of jeans or a purse. It’s her rhetorical decision to use “only” that usually gets her the purse or pair of jeans; a single word makes a big difference, and she knows that.
When my sister came home after a trip down South with her boyfriend, she needed a tactic to persuade my parents that the tattoo she got wasn’t as bad as they might think. She told my parents that they should “probably sit down” because she had to tell them something and she wasn’t sure “how they would react,” that they’d probably be “disappointed.” Of course, all of the thoughts that went through my parents minds were much worse than the Quarter sized heart that was now a permanent fixture on her ankle. They thought she might be pregnant and with a year left of college, a part time waitressing job, and a dorm room, that wouldn’t have been good news. When she told them she got a tattoo, it was like she had told them they’d won a trip to Disneyworld. A tattoo is mere child’s play when compared to an unplanned baby.
It’s amazing how word choice can make such a difference. It can mean the difference between buying something and walking away, between winning a debate and losing an argument. I recently sat in on a 10th grade honors class where students watched videos in which everyday people told stories and read their favorite poems. When the students were asked to decide what they thought about one person compared to another, the first response was, “He’s more educated than the first guy we saw.” Why? “Because the language he uses is much more sophisticated. He’s a lot more articulate.” Even though the first guy had said he was attending college and the second one hadn’t, the students found this to be completely irrelevant when making their judgment. Word choice impacted their opinion.