Rhemalogy

“Words, words, words.” ~Hamlet

Whether you are a prosaic get-to-the-point communicator or a wild and wooly wordsmith, you’ll be a better writer if you tap both sides of your brain:

• The accurate, logical, pragmatic Latinate side, and the
• The intuitive, musical, sensory Anglo Saxon side

Or, if you will, the Vulcan side and the Klingon side.

The two most prominent strains in the English language are Latinate words, derived from Latin, Greek, and other conceptual languages (like Vulcan); and Anglo-Saxon words, derived from old Germanic and other tactile languages (like Klingon).

Latinate words are analytical, logically constructed, and often made up of multiple syllables representing each of the roots from which they are constructed. Hence, a Latin word for talk, communicate, consists of comm (with) uni (shared) and cate (the act of doing).

Anglo Saxon words, on the other hand, are blunt, intuitive, based on visceral responses, often made…