Tag Archives: words have impact

Words Have Power (for better or worse)

Don’t Say Words That Start With P

As a young child, I made a rule for my mom to follow.

Whenever I heard Mom say words beginning with the letter P, I clapped my hands over my ears. I then stated my rule in my best displeased voice, “Mom, don’t say words that start with the letter P.”

I made this rule due to the way Mom pronounced P-words. She didn’t just say “potato.” She said “PUH-tay-toe” with the PUH-sound having strong emphasis. She said other P-words with similar intensity like PIH-ckle and POHP-corn and PEE-aches. This didn’t settle well with my ears. read more

Who Needs An Academy Award When You Have the Fireplace Mantle?

“Hey Mom, could I have this copy of the Woodinville Weekly?”

My son, (whom I’ll call Slash for the purpose of respecting his requested privacy), lived at home during some of the years I wrote for our community newspaper in Woodinville, Washington.

He had never before asked to keep any of the copies of the newspaper, and I felt pleased he wanted to have a copy to treasure. I wondered what articles in the paper I had written that prompted his desire to save it.

Pondering this further, I decided to go ask which of my articles did he like so much. read more