QuickFix Workshop

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Power of Words

• Quick-Fix Workshop
• Communications Centre

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We are committing Verbicide!(killing words)

• Read the following five excerpts from David
  Orrs article, Verbicide and then well start.

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Excerpts from Verbicide by David Orr

• OCTOBER 25, 2000 He entered my office for
  advice as a freshman advisee sporting nearly
  perfect SAT scores and an impeccable academic
  recordby all accounts a young man of
  considerable promise. During a 20-minute
  conversation about his academic future, however,
  he displayed a vocabulary that consisted mostly
  of two words "cool" and "really." Almost 800 SAT
  points hitched to each word. To be fair, he could
  use them interchangeably as "really cool" or
  "cool . . . really!" He could also use them
  singly. When he was a student in a subsequent
  class, I later confirmed that my first impression
  of the young scholar was largely accurate and
  that his vocabulary, and presumably his mind,
  consisted predominantly of words and images
  derived from overexposure to television and the
  new jargon of computer-speak.

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Verbicide

• He is no aberration, but an example of a larger
  problem, not of illiteracy but of diminished
  literacy in a culture that often sees little
  reason to use words carefully, however
  abundantly. Increasingly, student papers from
  otherwise very good students have whole
  paragraphs that sound like advertising copy.
  Whether students are talking or writing, a
  growing number have a tenuous grasp on a
  declining vocabulary. Excise "uh . . .like . .
  .uh" from most teenage conversations, and the
  effect is like sticking a pin into a balloon.

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Verbicide

• In the past 50 yearsthe working vocabulary of
  the average 14 year-old has declined from some
  25,000 words to 10,000 words. This is not merely
  a decline in numbers of words but in the capacity
  to think. It also signifies that there has been a
  steep decline in the number of things that an
  adolescent needs to know and to name in order to
  get by in an increasingly homogenized and
  urbanized consumer society. This is a national
  tragedy virtually unnoticed in the media.

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Verbicide

• The decline is surely not consistent across the
  full range of language but concentrates in those
  areas having to do with large issues such as
  philosophy, religion, public policy, and nature.
  On the other hand, vocabulary has probably
  increased in areas having to do with sex,
  violence, recreation, and consumption. As a
  result we are losing the capacity to say what we
  really mean and ultimately to think about what we
  mean. We are losing the capacity for articulate
  intelligence about the things that matter most.

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Verbicide

• The problem of language, however, is a global
  problem. Of the roughly 6500 languages now spoken
  on Earth, half are on the brink of extinction and
  only 150 or so are expected to survive to the
  year 2100. Language everywhere is being whittled
  down to conform to the limited objectives of the
  global economy and homogenized to accord with the
  shallow imperatives of the information age.

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Feeling like you should be locked away for this
crime?

• Dont worry agents of verbicide!
• It isnt illegalyet!
• You can help save the world with The Power of
  Words!

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Develop Your Vocabulary

• Being able to communicate your specific emotions
  and ideas is a crucial skill, which often
  determines your success.
• Ideas and the ability to speak and write about
  them is liberating because they enable you to
  engage inconversation to understand,relate
  and create.

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More Words Freedom

• Having a broad, rich vocabulary is not merely an
  asset, it is, arguably, freedom.

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Be a Part of the Conversation

• If you dont have the words, you cant be part of
  the conversation, which means you will be left
  out of life.

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The Good News

• You can improve your vocabulary.
• You dont have to commit verbicide.
• You dont have to be left out of the
  conversation.

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Use This Invaluable Resource!

• Newspapers Go to Where the Words Are.
• www.nytimes.com
• Go to
• Learning Network
• Word of the Day
• Past Words Archive

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Follow these Easy Steps

• Start with A.
• Read the word in context.
• Learn the word and the definition.
• Read the article. (Sign-up its FREE!)
• Use it correctly in context next time you speak
  or write something.
• Make it a habit this needs to become part of
  your lifestyle. Check and use the website
  everyday.