"Words ought to be a little wild...

 ... for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking."
          -John Maynard Keynes

I know John Maynard Keynes was an economist. But his words, emblazoned across the front of my 10th grade Wordly Wise book, have stuck with me all these years. And I think they're words to live by.

Lately, I've been assessing my relationship with words. The words I write are often a little wild (perhaps not here so often), though the words I speak are rarely so. To quote Moses (and Tevye and also King David*), "I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." I am also quick of mind. For better or worse, timidity often gets the better of me, and silence becomes a barrier to trap and quell my thoughts before they spring to my lips. Writing has the capacity to subdue these barricades.
I know several people who pride themselves on the degree to which their writing parallels their speech. Perhaps if I spoke up more, this would be the case. But I find that my writing more accurately reflects my thoughts. In fact, most of these posts are simply little conversations I've had with myself whilst running or grocery shopping. Each time I put these thoughts into type-form, it's an exercise in reconciling conflicting mediums of expression. I like to think that, with each post, I'm improving.

As I have pondered the conversion of thought-to-script versus speech-to-script, I think I've settled on some innovations that might benefit the 'Blogosphere' (Whoa. Let that one settle in.).
Sometimes I think we could use some form of punctuation between a period and an exclamation point. How else does one communicate excitement, joy, or exuberance without communicating volume?
In a similar vein, sometimes I think it should be common practice to employ an extensive system of written inflection and intonation in our internet communication. Of course, perhaps the reason I feel the need for these is that I lack the skill to communicate exuberance, dynamic intonation, and mood with the simple manipulation of words.

So there you have it:
Use your words, because you can be certain that no one else is going to do it for you.
Maybe start a punctuation revolution, or maybe not.
And while you're at it, go for it and use more of those words that make you feel good inside -words like 'propensity' and 'eleven'.
Let's not assault the unthinking, but lets make our words a little more wild.

*Please watch Fiddler on the Roof .