An English Lit. Major’s Peculiar Taste for Words
As an undergraduate majoring in English attending a STEM-focused university, I have a peculiar taste for words…I chose to apply as an English major with a focus in literature because I was astounded with how my high school teachers broke down texts like Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, and Beloved by Toni Morrison. Even Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein—a novel I admittedly did not enjoy—was discussed to such length that it became a metaphor for the human condition, commenting on the timeless nature vs nurture debate. I long to speculate how the protagonist feels, to hear my professor describe the way an author’s life influenced their writing.
In my spare time, I compose short stories, poems, and screenplays that mimic these authors and align with specific literary eras (like Romanticism or Realism). I can fabricate my own deeper meanings and symbolism with words. Through the years, I have written countless stories… enough to note patterns regarding how I write and structure sentences.
This is where that “peculiar taste” becomes important.
Apparently, I rewrite sentences to avoid certain words. There is little to no logical reasoning behind it. In argumentative essays (and text messages, even), I often restructure my sentences to better format the text into blocks. I have quickly become a justified-alignment enthusiast since justified-alignment evenly distributes paragraphs between the margins, as opposed to standard left-alignment. In the Notes app, I have curated an entry listing all the words that bother me with minimal, hardly-understandable justifications. For your enjoyment, I have decided to share these irregular opinions in a blog:
Underneath
Justification: “Beneath” is more concise. “Underneath” is excessive, it has too many syllables and does not roll off the tongue as well as “beneath.” While “beneath” feels like burrowing into a small, dark den, “underneath” feels like crouching down to reach a hand beneath your dresser—caught at the elbow and patting around the carpet to find back an earring you dropped.
Guess
Justification: “Suppose” is more formal. I respect characters that sigh “I suppose” more than those that sigh “I guess” because the former feels Victorian. The bored prince who does not respect the formalities of his title will remark, “I suppose.” In addition to this, looking at “guess” too long makes me think of Dr. Seuss.
A
Justification: “An” is more neat, though not interchangeable with “a” unless the sentence is altered. Words that end in “n” are generally considered to have a finished look. “A” is acceptable when not capitalized. When “a” is capitalized, it looks like something I would not want to step on barefoot.
By
Justification: “By” is academic when followed with a name (ex. Lord of the Flies by William Golding), though an eyesore in other contexts. Words that end in “y” look unfinished and needy, leaning against punctuation points like a drunk relative.
Of
Justification: “F” has an unfinished look like “y,” while “o” is neat like “n.” As a result, “of” looks thorny, like a bush that has not been well-maintained.
Above, the words were ordered from least-to-most bothersome, with recurring negative and positive associations depending on the last letter in a word. While I recognize that I can not avoid these words in every context, this “peculiar taste” influences much of my writing. It might even be responsible for my persistent writer’s block.
