Of Words & Distortions

I don’t know what’s wrong with the teens these days but they seem to believe in a strange ideology. If being cool is the name of the game, then distorting random English words play down to be the rule. Here’s a list of words I wish to press the delete button on (*smirks*) :

Like : What was meant to signify comparison between two things – “It looked like an original copy” – or “I really like his work” – is now being used as a noun, preposition, punctuation, adjective, verb, adverb, conjunction, article and everything else. The lack of a strong vocabulary has given people to use ‘like’ to signify everything that ever existed on the face of this planet.

Example?  “So I was like, ‘what do you mean’, and he was like, ‘don’t say like that, like its a crime or something’ “. Now handle that!

Awesome : A word used to describe something overtly impressive lost all its glory when it started being used to describe your lunch, dinner, girlfriend, mood, dog and even your poop. It has been used and reused and then used some more so much that it’s brothers and sisters ( read : synonyms ) like magnificent and beautiful feel left out. And added to it are the spelling distortions.

Example?  “Oh this is so awesome/awwweessoommee/awezzummm”

Baby : Meant to identify an infant, human or otherwise, it no longer retains its original meaning. Now it can be used to describe your girlfriend, your best friend, your boyfriend and pretty much everyone who you have remotely positive feelings for. Then comes the spelling permutations and combinations.

Example?  “Hey baby/babes/behbey/bby/bebe/babezz” and the list goes on. Yeah this word should rest in peace now.

Cool : A word used to denote a relatively low temperature has now it’s meaning manifolds. It now can be used to substitute a mere yes or even something that can send temperatures soaring ( *winks* ). And if only it had stopped at that! The spellings are not only catastrophic but kinda makes me lose hope in human race.

Example?  “The party is so cool/cul/kewl”

Aww : Anything remotely cute or pretty is aww-worthy nowadays. Just a form of expression, the over-usage of which is slowing driving people to brain-death these days. Have a pretty baby or a puppy in your profile picture? Be ready to be drowned in the “Awwwwww” river now. Two ‘w’s are still acceptable but when the damned word takes more than a five-second timeframe, the numbness sets in. Said in a particular tone, ‘aww’s can be fatal! ( Yes it’s your cue to stay away )

Example? “Awwwwwwwwwwww look at that cutie pie! ”

Peace : “The state prevailing during the absence of war” is taken a little too literally by the youth of today. Every conversation can now be ended with “peace”, sometimes coupled with a V sign. Not only is it pointless but also becomes unbearable when people end up saying, “piss” instead of “peace”.

Example? “Okay then bye. Piss ( peace ) out man.”  Now that wouldn’t really be a pretty sight, would it?

Yeah I’m done but now its your turn. Have a different opinion? Got words that makes you a momentary mean murderer? Take a moment and write me below!

WRITER’S BLOCK. I’m Gonna Be Dead Now!

You sit in with a mindset to write something great. You have the laptop open in front of you with a steaming cup of coffee by your side, some soft rock or indie-pop playing in low volume, a perfect setting to write down the next masterpiece. But you forget His presence. And especially of the fact that He’s in his jovial best.

You calm your mind, murmur some silent prayers and get ready to begin when

….HAHAHAHAHA…..

your ears burst with a riotous laughter in the background with your mind subsequently going as blank as a white sheet. You are confused at the melodramatic turn of events but gather yourself in quick time. Fending off any sign of incompetence, you try to focus again when voila! The damned thing happens again!

Now you are seriously miffed. You make an irritating face and gulp down some coffee. The caffeine spurs you into momentary enthusiasm and in a desperate attempt, you try to indite again, stringing together beads of a new masterpiece. But by this time, the earlier failures take a toll on you. Whatever you write seems incompetent of your standards. Having so under performed, you are now awfully pissed off, gulping down all the coffee at one go, before opening Google Chrome to check your Facebook notifications.

-x-

Wondering why I told you the story?

Writer’s Block, in itself, is a very amusing thing. You seem to know everything but your brain kinda gets lost with words and construction. And the worst part is, there’s no particular solution to the problem.

As the saying goes, “If a problem stops you from writing, write the problem instead”, here’s my jibe at something that’d troubled authors ( and me ) for ages : The Writer’s Block.

Troubled for the past many days, this is an attempt at overcoming the wretched thing, and with the way the words have arranged themselves, I’m seeing light at the other end!

A ‘novel’ Idea!

How hard do you think it is to write a novel?

Pretty hard, I’d say.

Frankly, I’ve been conceiving this idea of writing a novel for quite some time now but every one of the attempts had dissapoined. Now before you make that I-know-it-all face and think its because of probable lack of  imagination or experience, let me say that I’ve been writing since I was 4. Now don’t look at me like that, it’s true!

So let’s tell you what happened. I am settled comfortably on my couch, my laptop sitting authoritatively on my lap with a MS-Word document open, the plot racing vividly at the back of my mind and the brain knowing exactly what to do. I’m excited and I reach out to type the first letter when

KABOOM!

I’m completely blank.

It has always been a major concern, right from the school days. I’ve always worried about the beginnings, I don’t know why. I have the whole plot up and running in my head but I fumble with the keys wasting hours, only to construct a mediocre beginning. Or maybe it’s my obsession with fantastic beginnings that make ’em feel worthless. I hardly manage two pages and I lose interest. And that is definitely not how I’d like my novel to be written.

I once asked a teacher of mine, a very authoritative man on creative writing, about the problem. He smiled and answered, ” Begin when you have something to say, and finish when you have nothing more. ” Though it sounded pretty mundane at that time and I had a bad time finding sense in those words, a few while in history, everything became crystal.

It’s simple, you see. You don’t have to try and craft out a wonderful piece when you know you’re struggling with it. Just keep it aside and write what flows through the nib. Just because you want the start to be impressive doesn’t mean you have to write it in the beginning itself. You can always come back later.

Sometimes we writers kinda have these bad days when things don’t quite go our way, but what the heck? It’s your book, you can always amend!