Creative Word Assassins
By Dale Angel
The enraged man shouts, ”May you doubt your heritage from your mother!” The other retaliates. ”I hope you get what I passed to your wife!”
About a week after he ran off with his secretary, a man called home to tell his wife to sell his Porsche and send him the money. She did and sent him all $15.
These old stories still amuse me. Have people’s creativity so diminished that it’s easier to shoot our opponents? That requires no intellectual effort! Are we losing our ability to be creative assassins with the pen or tongue? It can be very effective without drawing blood.
I think I prefer elaborate written notes that are so smooth and flowery one has to hunt for the rejection. The word dagger slides in so smooth one doesn’t feel it until later, or can understand what happened until one perceives a $15 check.
If one has the skills of the tongue, he can use this weapon without it being lethal…sometimes in a moment of passion, words can deliver a wound, yet the victim continues to breathe for forty more years. At least there is still a chance it can be repaired, but the instant shot is not always that forgiving.
Both the pen and the gun still leave you with your conscience. What do you do with that? You can assassinate yourself, wishing you had been more understanding by not drawing your pen so fast. With a gun, rarely is there a second chance to mend relationships, and the more heart felt flowery language used to convey personal feelings the easier it is to accept.
Once in a group I heard an attacker being unfair (mean) towards the attackee. The attackee was asked to say prayer. At the end he thanked God, for keeping his foot from kicking the attacker under the table. You don’t forget these live misunderstandings. They have so much more flavor! The entertainment was better than the food. A shot would be so bland and uninteresting. The rest of the evening went well.
I’m in desperate need of useful, delightful, scented words to add to my vocabulary if you have some you want to give away. But…there is something powerful in creative words. I can’t put my finger on it maybe you can.
I can’t see well enough to shoot.
Dale Angel
Writers Forum is open to submissions for the blog or the newsletter.
Type of Material and Guidelines for e-newsletter and Website Submission: 1.) Your articles on the art or craft of writing. 2.) Essays on subjects of interest to writers. (200 words can be quoted without permission but with attribution.) 3.) Book or author reviews. 4.) Letters to the Editor or Webmaster. 5.) Information on upcoming events, local or not. 6.) Photos of events. 7.) Advertise your classes or private events. 8.) Short fiction 9.) Poetry
Please submit copy to the editor at writersforumeditor@gmail.com . Electronic submissions only. Microsoft Word format, with the .docx file extension, is preferred but any compatible format is acceptable. The staff reserves the right to perform minor copy editing in the interest of the website’s style and space.
Writers Forum 