And … I’m back (after an inexcusably long hiatus)!
The following is an amusing + true story that (spoiler!) demonstrates why word choice is important. Okay. That doesn’t sound like it will be funny, but read on….
I had been wandering through Costa Rica for nearly a month, practicing my Spanish, white-water rafting, touring beaches and rainforests, when I learned an important lesson regarding specificity. So considering I was there to contemplate life’s big questions, a lesson about precision was somewhat ironic. Yes, I was vacationing and having fun, but my ultimate goal was figuring out my future as a college grad entering the work force. And, I’m happy to say, it was on a beautiful mountainside hotel rooftop overlooking the unending Pacific, the glimmering dark water somehow melding into an infinity blanket of stars that reached back over my head, that I decided my role in the universe.
But that’s not the lesson I want to talk about.
About a week prior to my big epiphany, I had a boring yet fascinating conversation with a fellow American tourist. At first, it couldn’t have been more typical . . . except for his reactions to my answers regarding who I was and what I did for a living. His expression became confused, then amazed, and finally horrified.
Anyway, I had told him that after graduating from Sewanee, I moved back in with my parents for several months, working as a substitute teacher by day and as a waiter by night. But when I mentioned that simple, mundane, fact, his brow furrowed.
“Que?” he asked.
The conversation continued in Spanish, but roughly translated, I explained that I “worked with children, teaching them English, writing, or whatever was required, but after dark, I worked long hours, often not finishing until the middle of the night.”
“And then you taught children the morning after?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said. “I was exhausted, but it was fun. And I was making a lot of money.”
“As a waiter?”
“Yeah. People liked me and I made big tips. I had several ‘regulars.’”
He shuffled a little farther away and sized me up, as though inspecting a potentially poisonous snake.
I didn’t know what his deal was, so I tried explaining again, but he cut me off. I laughed because both his reactions and the questions he asked were so ridiculous. But I played along and answered as best I could. A minute later, he excused himself and ran off, looking back at me more than once.
I relayed this conversation to a girl in a pub later that night and she stopped me, pointing out a simple error in my Spanish.
One word. That’s all it was. Just one simple word.
You see, in Spanish, the word for waiter is “camarero.” But I had messed it up, using “caballero” instead—the word for “gentleman.” Not a big deal, under normal circumstances, but then I considered my responses from the American Tourist’s point of view, and the conversation took on a whole new meaning:
“After teaching, I work as a gentleman, working long hours into the night. It’s exhausting, but a lot of fun. The money is great. I am very popular, good at my job, and people obviously like me. I get big tips and have several regulars.”
And that’s when his follow-ups got really weird:
“Do you serve women?”
“Yes.”
“And men?”
“Si claro! Of course!”
“And you like it?”
“It’s great! I have fun and make sure everybody else does too!”
And at that he shook his head, looking at me incredulously, so I said, “So I guess you’ve never worked as a gentleman.”
He snorted as if such a notion was impossible.
But I said, “I think everyone should work in the service industry for at least a little while. It teaches you a lot about what people truly want.”
And then he ran away.
And that’s how I learned that, in communication of any sort, every single word is vital. As Mark Twain once said, “use the right word, not its second cousin.” Because I did not follow that advice, I can only imagine what the guy I had been talking to assumed about my relationship with my 2nd cousin . . . who is a dude.
The point is: you want to be specific with your word choice. Always. When you’re writing or speaking publically, obviously, but even in day-to-day interactions, because a small mistake can send a wacked out and bizarre message.
In this case, the damage was minimal. In fact, I’d say the added bonus of my learning a valuable lesson is that there’s a guy out there telling an amazing “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” story about the time he met a substitute school-teacher/bi-sexual male prostitute.
And that’s pretty cool.
whY A write 