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Tall Words
I have mentioned earlier on this blog the unnecessary tall words used by galleries on press releases. But the problem is not limited to that type of advertisement. Fancy terminology and confounding statements are, more or less, de rigueur in the art world. The reasons why this is might be illustrative of collective and individual anxieties but rather than explore those, now I just want to suggest we desist on the usage of terminology and postures that are not necessary.
At times, the need for clarity and precision requires terms and methods that might not be familiar to everyone. But arcane notions ought to be tools in the search for truths rather than veils to hide lies. It is more productive to study great thinkers to understand the mechanism of their thought than to find a quotable phrase or a hook for one’s deficiencies; even minor understanding of a good mind brings forth humility. The temptation is always there to firm our soft understanding with the prop of the big word or the important framework, but these affectations tend to hide truths not only from others but from ourselves as well.
Partly because philosophy and literature have played a role in my work and are part of my vocabulary, it has been a challenge for me to avoid the failings I have just described. Whatever the excuse, I am disappointed whenever I can’t find a way around fancy terminology. I think most people should avoid the embarrassment of sounding like intellectuals—particularly if they are intellectuals.
At times, the need for clarity and precision requires terms and methods that might not be familiar to everyone. But arcane notions ought to be tools in the search for truths rather than veils to hide lies. It is more productive to study great thinkers to understand the mechanism of their thought than to find a quotable phrase or a hook for one’s deficiencies; even minor understanding of a good mind brings forth humility. The temptation is always there to firm our soft understanding with the prop of the big word or the important framework, but these affectations tend to hide truths not only from others but from ourselves as well.
Partly because philosophy and literature have played a role in my work and are part of my vocabulary, it has been a challenge for me to avoid the failings I have just described. Whatever the excuse, I am disappointed whenever I can’t find a way around fancy terminology. I think most people should avoid the embarrassment of sounding like intellectuals—particularly if they are intellectuals.
Labels: Ramblings
posted by EMC at
6:00 PM
3 Comments:
you are right!
I'm an artist , whose definition of my work is all about my own words and my own world , sometimes I get confused in order to appeal the new statement and at the end I found out that is just me and myself the only ones who prevalence and know exactly what I want to express.
By the way I really like your work, I live in fort Lauderdale, do you have a workshop or teach some classes?
I would like to go and see your studio, and have some critics of my work,, well if you can,,
thank you!
Tita Millan tita@themagicbrushstudio.com
4312 Diamond Way
Weston Fl 33331
954-385-69-32
language (the use of words) is never thorough or definite, yet we react to it like it is truth. we can accuse those that utilize these 'tall words' of being liars and speculate on what we think their "truth" is, but by doing so aren't we further enabling their power to impose some sort of hierarchy or exclusionary power, while also giving into a new illusion/lie of our own?
i suggest that we overuse these tall words so they shrink to 'normal size' or otherwise lose their power to exclude - eventually morphing into some type of punchline or cliche....
I have spent at least as much of my life in books as around people, but as much of the time spent neither reading nor conversing includes the introspection of a noted book-fanatic, the language most native to me is unavoidably littered with less popular words.
In my early 20's I spent a lot of time pondering the same issue you describe as a "failing". Although I wasn't sure if I wanted to be a published author, I have always considered myself to be a writer...and only later discovered I am a painter who writes. I find the same ethic of communication applies to both mediums--once an individual presents his thoughts, a product of his making, etc. to another with the intent of communication, he is no more obligated to be understood than he is to be interesting, but I would consider it a greater failing if he was unintelligible than if he was dull. Why. Because he is attempting to communicate.
Few things intuitively insult a person more than when an intellectual abuses the theatre of communication by inviting one to participate in what then becomes an uncomfortable display of the intellectual's superiority at the audience's expense.
As a writer, this suggestion of a personal epiphany troubled me at first. I didn't like the notion that I should stray from my native language...one inevitably hears "dumbing it down" and rightfully shudders. But the language of the masses, as an example, is not one voice nor one understanding, and it is hardly "dumb". It is in fact the true currency of the world...human thought, expressed; human thought, digested. And I decided it was my obligation, and a challenge for my talent, to see if I could understand an idea well enough to wrap more than one word around it...this is not necessarily a game of synonyms, but the acrobatics of expression...sometimes three simple words, a change in flow, and clever punctuation may be needed to strike the same tone & balance as the monolithic & unfortunately obscure word that first came to mind. I not only realized it was worth it to me in order to be understood precisely, I also discovered my "native" language thrived in this new world of brevity...it is the agreement to take a surgeon's knife to a language so assured, familiar, and accomplished, it inevitably suffers from the same failings individuals of similar status suffer. Pedigrees come at the expense of vigorous blood.
When I spend too long with books exclusively, free to communicate with only myself in the privacy of my own head, I unavoidably emerge with a widely incomprehensible if not incredibly dull vocabulary. The cure for this is the very same I would have liked to prescribe to some of my favorite philosophers, who notably spent so much time pondering the life of men that they failed to completely live--life wants depth, and depth wants life...never is a lack to either pole more regrettable than when the mind is keen, or the personality sensual. When my head grows too large, it is time to put the dead giants away and go fill up on life, which is raw and base and simple until we fall over ourselves trying to give more of our experience to moments that are meant to feed and fuel.
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