Verbal Barrage – Sunday, October 19, 1941
We ofttimes hear people complain of the inadequacy of words. The stammering student is often heard to say that he knows the answer but can’t express it. There are times of deep emotion in the lives of all of us that defy the limits of language. Sometimes in our thinking we border on great thoughts that transcend our ability to reduce them to words. But this complaint about the inadequacy of words has no reference to any scarcity of talk.
Our comparatively limited stock of words we turn over so many times in the utterance of so many commonplaces that it would seem they would lose the sharpness of their meaning, and, indeed, the careless use of a word will dull its cutting edge, just as will the wrong use of a tool. This frequent turnover of our stock of vocabulary is one of the wasteful practices of our talkative day. Loose, small talk, is so often substituted for thought, and so often used to camouflage the superficiality of social situations. For comment on this point we have the word of scripture which admonishes: “Therefore, let they words be few.” (Ecclesiastes 5:2) “Cease from all your light speeches * * * from all your pride and lightmindedness.” “Cast away your idle thoughts * * * far from you.” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:27,69) “For our words will condemn us * * * and our thoughts will also condemn us.” (Book of Mormon, Alma 12:14) “Therefore, let your words tend to edify one another.” (Doctrine and Covenants 136:24)
But if, with all this prodigal barrage of language to which we are daily exposed, words should become threadbare and tiresome, and commonplace, and dull, and unconvincing, there is still left to us the possibility of making our lives convincing. A worthy life never becomes threadbare or trite and a righteous example is never confused with mere words. It is the manner of our living and not the words by which we would explain it that leaves a lasting impression.
October 19, 1941
Broadcast Number 0,635