Stanley F. Bronstein – Personal Development BlogPersonal Development Blog of the Founder of the Achievement IQ Movement and Creator of the Laws of Positioning

To speak of “mere words” is much like speaking of “mere dynamite.”

– C. J. Ducasse

Mere indicates a state of being nothing more, nor better than.

Words are a unit of language consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representations. Words function as our primary means of communication.

Dynamite is an explosive that can do a lot of damage. It is also sometimes used to describe a person or a thing that has a spectacular effect.

In the quote above, C. J. Ducasse seems to indicate that we should be careful when choosing our words. Have you ever seen someone get verbally insulted and when they were asked to apologize, they simply said it was “mere words” or I didn’t really mean it?” All you have to do is pay attention to the news on any given day and you can see many instances of that.

For example, I read a newspaper story the other day about a restaurant manager who joked to some sheriff’s deputies that they should let her know the next time they were coming to her restaurant, so she could make them something “special.” Apparently, she had a grudge against the sheriff’s office and jokingly hinted that she didn’t like them and wanted to make them special food that was “off the menu”, so to speak. That was an example of mere words, but it led to a major backlash. The story made national news, the manager’s company had to make public apologies, and, the restaurant manager was fired, all over her choice of words.

You see, in this case, her “mere words”, turned out to be explosive (and they obviously exploded in her face). The same thing applies to us in our daily lives. We have to be careful as we choose our words. Words can help and words can hurt. Words can properly express an idea, or they can cloud an issue. Word choice is very important.

So, how does one build their vocabulary. Perhaps the best way I know is to read books and to keep a dictionary by your side when you read. If you want an online dictionary, I find Dictionary.com to be very useful. Another way is to listen to audiobooks about reading. Perhaps the best program I have ever seen is one called Verbal Advantage. It’s long, but it is incredibly comprehensive. If Verbal Advantage doesn’t build your vocabulary, nothing will.

One person who read (and still reads) lots of books is Dr. John Blangero or San Antonio, Texas. John is a geneticist and perhaps one of the smartest men I’ve ever met. How did he get to be so smart? I’m not sure, but he read a lot of books while he was growing up. Click on the video below to listen to him talk about the value of books in his life.

Dr. John Blangero is one of the persons who wil be featured in my upcoming book:

Achievement IQ Moments
50 Stories Of Powerful People
Who Positioned Themselves To The TopIf you want to view that portion of the interview, click on the image below.

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