{"id":1341,"date":"2013-09-06T06:07:32","date_gmt":"2013-09-06T13:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellejolin.com\/wordpress\/?p=1341"},"modified":"2013-09-05T18:16:34","modified_gmt":"2013-09-06T01:16:34","slug":"just-a-few-of-my-least-favorite-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=1341","title":{"rendered":"More than words"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Poor head
\nCan hardly move my lips for speaking
\nI said
\nSo, what is this thing I cannot explain?
\nI’d blame all the things I feel but can’t quite place
\nPerhaps they’re written on my face
\nSomeone took the words away<\/p>\n

–Elvis Costello\/Someone Took The Words Away<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Words are funny things. My boss used the phrase\u00a0 “I’d like for our company to strive to be differentially excellent” in a meeting, and it made me want to poke him in the eye.\u00a0 That isn’t funny? Peculiar, then. I am weird about words. In the 17th century, I could have said I was nice about words. Now it means kind. Then it meant…precise.<\/p>\n

I am less nice about punctuation than I am about words. Particularly when using, or rather abusing, ellipses or exclamation points. Uh, and commas. I think it’s a charming quirk. In case you are wondering, using words improperly is not a charming quirk unless you are doing it intentionally as some sort of intellectually stimulating word play. In which case, it still probably isn’t a charming quirk unless you are really good at it. Yes, I am the one who gets to make the call. It’s my blog.<\/p>\n

Here’s another confession: it drives me a little mad when people misuse the word literal. No, you weren’t literally scared to death. You are still here annoying me with your misuse of the word literal. If you had been literally scared to death, you’d be lounging around in a cremation urn right now. And now I’m having a flashback to the Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch. The part about “if you ‘adn’t nailed ‘im to the perch, ‘e’d be pushing up the daisies.”<\/p>\n

I am not as rabid about the misuse of the word literal as some of my friends are. It’s annoying to me, but I don’t literally become a werewolf over it like some of them do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just shake your head and move on.<\/p>\n

There is clearly nothing to see here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Poor head Can hardly move my lips for speaking I said So, what is this thing I cannot explain? I’d blame all the things I feel but can’t quite place Perhaps they’re written on my face Someone took the words away –Elvis Costello\/Someone Took The Words Away     Words are funny things. My … Continue reading More than words<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lr3R-lD","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1974,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=1974","url_meta":{"origin":1341,"position":0},"title":"Qui? Moi?","author":"Michelle","date":"October 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Ce soir quand m\u00eame j'ai compris, Faut pas dire \u00e0 qui je ressemble, Faut dire qui je suis. --Francis Cabrel\/Rosie If you're someone who speaks at least one language other than your own pretty well, especially if you've lived in a country where you've had to speak that language more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6965,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=6965","url_meta":{"origin":1341,"position":1},"title":"Random quotes","author":"Michelle","date":"August 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my quirks is that I write a lot of things down that people say if I find them interesting in some way. Funny or charming or sweet or thought provoking. Whatever. I keep finding random notes from things that people said during the beach weekend. Usually, I will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6892,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=6892","url_meta":{"origin":1341,"position":2},"title":"Hall of fame","author":"Michelle","date":"August 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"You can go the distance You can run the mile You can walk straight through hell with a smile --Script\/Hall of Fame When I get into a workout kick, it is always cardio. I love the breathlessness, and the sweat, and the way you have to continually talk yourself into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9497,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=9497","url_meta":{"origin":1341,"position":3},"title":"What people tell me about myself","author":"Michelle","date":"March 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In the last month, I have had people say things after meeting me for the first time that sort of surprise me. In a good way. In a way that makes me think that all the trouble I've taken to try to be more engaged in life might actually be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7348,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=7348","url_meta":{"origin":1341,"position":4},"title":"Words with friends does NOT hate me","author":"Michelle","date":"September 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In a clear sign that I think too much about everything, and I do mean everything, here is a little story. A story which someone with better judgement might keep to herself, but the blog must be fed. People who read me have probably figured out that I love words.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8739,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=8739","url_meta":{"origin":1341,"position":5},"title":"How to be as happy as an 8 year old","author":"Michelle","date":"December 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It's great to be 8! --Lily Be happy with who and where you are in life Be a goofball when the spirit moves you Read a book or ten or a thousand Make up random stories about Evil Potatoes Take those stories seriously Remember that French Fries are Good Don't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/20140706-191531-69331077.jpg?fit=454%2C313&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}