Definition:
(1) Choice and use of words in speech or writing. (2) A way of speaking, usually assessed in terms of prevailing standards of pronunciation and elocution. See also: E.B. White's Diction and Metaphors in "Death of a Pig."
Etymology:
From the Latin, "to say, speak"Examples and Observations:
- "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) - "An actor is totally vulnerable. His total personality is exposed to critical judgment--his intellect, his bearing, his diction, his whole appearance. In short, his ego."
(Alec Guinness)
Pronunciation: DIK-shun
