Whats In A Word? More Than You Realize

What's in a word? Apparently more than we might want.

For others, the ability to express yourself in the most meaningful way.

I have written articles before on how bizarre the English language can be and for that matter; many languages have special challenges with interpreting meanings.

There is one word in China that I heard has about 40 different meanings, (one source said the two words have over 80 meanings) depending on usage and emphasis. That word is Wu Li. Gary Zukav (author of "The Seat of the Soul") talks about it in his book "The Dancing Wu Li Masters.

For the book "The Dancing Wu Li Masters", it means patterns of organic energy or physics. Other more popular meanings are:

My Way
Nonsense
I clutch my ideas
Enlightened

For those who study both metaphysics and quantum physics, like myself, I find it interesting that it carries physics and enlightened as meanings.

In English, we have many words that people will interchange yet have different meanings, which can further confuse the receiver of your message.

Two such words are, effective and efficient. Effective is doing the right thing, that which you set out to do. Efficiency is doing whatever you set out to do well.

You can have one without necessarily having the other. Most people understand doing the right thing but not well, yet they get caught up on understanding how you can do the wrong thing well, efficiency without effectiveness.

Imagine you are on a sailboat traveling across the Pacific when you are informed:

We have some good news and bad news. First, we have picked up a great wind and can get back on our time schedule; however, our compass broke and we haven't the slightest idea where we are.

So, they are traveling very efficiently, but not very effectively.

Even the spelling of words can cause grief and misunderstandings. I remember when I was in elementary school and the teacher would just say, sound it out. However, that doesn't always work. There is the whole issue of synonyms and homonyms, as well as the issue that we have this habit if breaking the rules in order to have more expression and growth in our language. (Growth by the way is important).

Yet, one of the most enforced rules that I had to remember in schools was:

Use i before e (from here on it gets complicated)
except after c
or when sounded as 'a' as in neighbour and weigh.

But does it stop there, noooo.

Some more exceptions that don't seem to follow any of the above are:

Counterfeit

either

foreign

forfeit

Height

seize

leisu re

efficient

(and ironically or suitably) weird

Many more words can be spelling traps for people. They sound similar and many people are not sure where to put them.

Some common ones are:

Affect -a verb -to influence
Effect- a noun ? a result, a verb- bring to pass

Allude ?refer indirectly to
Elude ? slip away

Can ?ability
May- permission

Farther ?physical distance
Further ? abstract relationships of degree

Imply ? A speaker implies
Infer ? A hearer infers

Such as- examples
Like ? resemblances

You can see why good communicators are in a high demand for many corporations and businesses. It is never too late to invest the time and effort into your self and master your ability to communicate on a higher level.

All the Best!
Maria Boomhower
The Master Communicator
To get a free report on Communication Mastery, go to:
http://www.falconfreedom.com
http://www.mariaboomhower.blogspot.com

P. S. If you like what you're reading in this ezine, you'll love the book, "Overcoming Barriers to Communication." It's a manual that helps you overcome the challengers that start with Intrapersonal to Interpersonal and on to Mass Communication. Overcoming Barriers to Communication

---

Japanese Kanji Learning: Short-Cuts to Rapid Mastery (Part 1)

What? Kanji can be learned quickly? This seems an impossible... Read More

Teaching English in Mexico: A Decent Living?

What's more disappointing than a person who makes a promise... Read More

Teaching English in Greece - What Do You Need to Know?

The employment situation can be quite uncertain for newcomers to... Read More

Learning a Foreign Language: Why Should you Learn Words You Never Use in Your Mother Tongue?

Imagine a child sitting in front of a desk, his... Read More

Learn Italian in Italy

You can combine your love of the Italian language with... Read More

Whats In A Word? More Than You Realize

What's in a word? Apparently more than we might want.For... Read More

English Slang For Perplexed Tourists

I watched the British version of 'Big Brother' recently. That's... Read More

Teaching Reading to English Language Learners

There is an increasing amount of English language learners represented... Read More

Can You Understand English?

There is a lot of talk about making English the... Read More

Second Language Competence Beneficial but often Misunderstood

Second language learning has associated with it many types of... Read More

Learn Korean: Part 1 - Asian Languages and Language Families

So, you have always been fascinated by Asian culture have... Read More

Bridging the Language Gap Using Bilingual Picture Books

There are more than 39 million Hispanics live in the... Read More

Show Me the Bunny: Language Acquisition

Some children are really funny about experimenting with speech. Nonetheless,... Read More

Speaking Spanish To Increase Mind Power

Our "mind power" is largely in the way we use... Read More

GROUSE ... GROUSE ... GROUSE!!!

I realize that we here in the United States consider... Read More

Learn to Speak Basic Chinese (Mandarin) Words and Phrases

The Chinese Language and dialectsEach province, each city and even... Read More

Aphasia: The Cruelest Language Barrier

Imagine the following scenario: You wake up one morning and... Read More

Uncommon Facts / Rules of English Language

English is an international language. It has so many grammar... Read More

Preschool Spanish

Why an EarlyAGE 2nd Language?Research indicates that from ages 1... Read More

Don?t Take The Romaji Short-Cut When Learning Japanese

This is an issue many Japanese learners come up against,... Read More

Learning a Foreign Language: the Ventriloquists Lesson

The main feature you have to master, in order to... Read More

Learn Korean: Part 2 - Social Status in Culture

Part 1 of this series covered the language and language... Read More

How Ronzoni Italian Foods Helped My Dad Learn English

My dad likes to say, he was made in Italy,... Read More

How To Learn Spanish Quickly and Easily

Spanish is a very useful language to learn as it... Read More

7 Words Americans Should Stop Using Until Further Investigation

Relationship: Here is a word that is used to qualify,... Read More

Learning a Foreign Language: Learn from the Blind

In a previous article, you read that to establih your... Read More

Learn Italian in Your Hometown

Are you interested in learning the Italian language right in... Read More

Learning French in Paris

Nothing can be more frustrating than to be in France... Read More

Learn Italian for Free

Italian is one of the most widespread languages in the... Read More

Mexican Living: Todays Obsession

I would like to talk about one of my many... Read More

English Language Sputtering Online Like an Old Ford!

Sad, but true. Just about everywhere you look online, the... Read More

Learning a Foreign Language: the Psychological Factor

When it comes about learning a foreign language, many people... Read More

Online IELTS Preparation - Why Does It Make Sense?

Because IELTS is a difficult test. While most agree that... Read More