Don't Botch That Connotation

As John Kerry's recent "botched joke" demonstrates, taking the time to find just the right word can make a world of difference, whether in politics or in everyday life.

Finding the right word often means being sensitive to a word's connotations--that is, its emotional associations or implied meanings. For instance, in a monologue on the "bizarre language used by the airline industry," comedian George Carlin points out the darker connotation of the word "terminal"--an "unfortunate word to be used in association with air travel." And recently, when I introduced a visitor from eastern Europe to a quite visibly pregnant colleague of mine, he cheerfully complimented the woman on her "breeding." Technically correct, perhaps, but connotatively inappropriate.

Clearly, learning the connotations of English words is a more complicated business than simply memorizing dictionary definitions. But that may be changing: the website myCONNOTATION.org* claims to be the "first subjective dictionary and collaborative word connotation database." The concept seems simple enough: type in a word and up comes its connotations.

Yet despite the initiative of its creator, Greg Herchenroether, the site still has a long way to go. Enter the word "dry," for example, and you'll learn that its connotations are "good, if it's a wine; bad, if it's a lecture; indifferent, depending on your sense of humor." Nicely done. But try the word "wet" and you'll come up, well, dry.

Somebody who knew a thing or two about choosing words carefully was Mark Twain. "The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter," he observed. "It's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."

* Unfortunately, since this article first appeared myCONNOTATION.org has vanished.