Definition:
(1) Choice and use of words in speech or writing.
(2) A way of speaking, usually judged in terms of prevailing standards of pronunciation and elocution.
See also:
Etymology:
From the Latin, "to say, speak"Examples and Observations:
- "Diction will be effective only when the words you choose are appropriate for the audience and purpose, when they convey your message accurately and comfortably. The idea of comfort may seem out of place in connection with diction, but, in fact, words can sometimes cause the reader to feel uncomfortable. You've probably experienced such feelings yourself as a listener--hearing a speaker whose words for one reason or another strike you as inappropriate."
(Martha Kolln, Rhetorical Grammar. Allyn and Bacon, 1999) - "One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called 'weasel words.' When a weasel sucks eggs the meat is sucked out of the egg. If you use a 'weasel word' after another, there is nothing left of the other."
(Theodore Roosevelt, 1916) - "Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still."
(T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton") - "There's a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words."
(Dorothy Parker, 1956) - "I'm very anxious not to fall into archaism or 'literary' diction. I want my vocabulary to have a very large range, but the words must be alive."
(James Agee) - "The principal meaning of diction is the selection and use of words or the manner of expression. But this fact does not rule out, as some purists would like to do, the companion meaning of mode of speaking or enunciation."
(Theodore Bernstein, Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins, 1971)
Pronunciation: DIK-shun
