The Weight of Words

In my previous entry, I talked about the weight of words. This is one of those things that I know, but never took the time to understand. It always seems so intuitive to me because it is based more in feeling than science. But I think there is at least some science involved.

In general, the weight of a word can be felt in how much it weighs down a sentence. For starters, say out loud, "sure it is." Say it very quickly, the way you would say it to your friend in a conversation. This is a very light sentence. It is made of a light number of words, each of which is light by itself. You can say "sure it is" so quickly that you don't even think about it. Sentences like these are commonly known as "sliding off the tongue".

So consider the polar opposite. A heavy sentence will have a lot of words, each of which will be particularly bulky. These sentences are so unpleasant that they are a struggle to read. For an example, I point you to any history textbook or document written by a lawyer.

So when you consider the weight of a word, consider how easy it is to say and how well it blends with the sentence it's in. The word 'so' is very easy to say. It will fit in almost anywhere without being noticed. The word 'haggard' is not so easy. You can get tripped up saying it and it takes some effort; it's a heavy word. In between those words is 'mesh'. 'Mesh' is a pretty light word, and you usually wouldn't think much of it, but in the right circumstances, it is the wrong word.

Read the following sentence: "After reviewing the job description, I believe the Staff Assistant position would mesh well with many of my interests and abilities." Now say it out loud. Take your time with it and try to feel the flow of the sentence. When you say the word 'mesh', the flow of the sentence stops. 'Position' is a nice and slick word; it makes you want to keep saying things. But in order to say 'mesh', you need to stop the air flow to pronounce that 'm'. Because of that, this relatively light word ends up being too heavy for the sentence it's in. Try the same sentence, but replace 'mesh' with 'blend' and see how much smoother and lighter the sentence is.

The more I think about weight, the more I see certain factors contributing to them. The longer a word is, the heavier it is. Length, though, is measured in syllables, not letters. 'No' is just as long as 'trash'. But the letters do matter (technically, the sounds they represent). Every sound has a different weight to it. 'K', 'D', and 'G' are all heavy sounds. 'K' is probably the heaviest sound we have. Say the phrase "cuckoo clock" and compare it to "sassafras". Both of these words are three syllables, but the difference in weight is palpable.

I know there are a lot more aspects that deal with weight of words, both by themselves and within a given sentence. However, they are less tangible. They are things that I can only feel, but cannot yet explain. So to learn as much as you can, the best advice I can give is to train your ear to recognize when a sentence gets weighed down and starts to drag. Train your ear so much that you feel it in your body when a sentence is wrong. From there, you will feel all of the nuances of weight. Even if you can't describe them, you will still be able to make use of them.

Weight is always important in writing. If a sentence gets too heavy, you can't finish reading it. That's one of the reasons I advocate shorter sentences: if there aren't a lot of words, they need to be particularly heavy to be unreadable.