In grade school, we were taught to reach for "fifty cent words" in lieu of the more basic "ten cent words." A more expressive "countenance" for example might replace the plainer-sounding "take;" "domicile" would be praised in place of "house," And so forth. I became very good at this, and was often praised for my vocabulary, which was somewhat extensive for my young age.
It wasn't until later in life, when I began to take an interest in my ethnic religion that, in an effort to define it with precision, I took to researching the origins of the words I'd use in a spiritual context. (EtymOnline is one of my all time favorite apps). When I did that, I quickly realized something critical:
Almost all of those "ten cent words," the ones used by the working poor and the less educated, were the words with pure Germanic roots, while the "fifty cent words" used by the supposedly more intelligent were typically impositions upon the English language by Latin via Old French, Greek, and others. Many questions followed this realization.
Why are pure English words considered mean speech for the lower classes, while the foreign-influenced and lendwords were considered more genteel and sophisticated? Why was I told as a child to only use "cemetery" because "graveyard" sounded too upsetting?
When I sat down to arrange the above "nine point pledge," I intended to use only "pure" germanic language. In place of "nonhuman" (Latin), I had originally substituted "false being," but was persuaded to change it back.
Here is a challenge: see if you can write a whole paragraph - make it about the natural world - and use ONLY Germanic (substitute "Teutonic") origin words. Go back and look up the etymology of each word you use, and when you find Latin, Greek or Old French, find a "pure" English term to replace it. Some of these terms won't have direct translations. Watch how fast your words become kennings, and how quickly your speech takes on a poetic quality.
