By Ann Farabee

How are you?

Fine.

Your call is important to us.

Really?

Why am I on hold for so long?

I hate to interrupt you.

No, you don’t or you wouldn’t have.

I am on my way.

This does not necessarily mean they are in the car yet.

This is the truth.

So, everything you tell me is not the truth?

Just forget about it.

This rarely means you should forget about it.

Be there in a minute.

It probably will be more than a minute.

I may be wrong but…

Well, why say it then?

Let me see what I can do.

I am not always hopeful when hearing this.

No worries.

For some reason, this comment worries me.

I will let you know.

Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don’t.

That is a short list of things we say that we often give little thought to as we say them.

And how about these oxymorons?

Alone together. Civil war. Crash landing. Deafening silence. Found missing. Paper tablecloth. Sad smile. Freezer burn. Good grief. Only choice. Pretty ugly.

During my teaching career, many of my students slipped me notes. On some of those notes were these words: Your the best teacher!

Yes, I knew your should have been you’re.

But those notes were perfect and priceless as penned. No corrections needed!

There are approximately 170,000 words in the English language. Connecting and communicating with others matters.

If not, God would not have given us the ability to construct or concoct that many words.

But our tone and our tongue can sometimes be tragic, even if we intend for it to be timely.

Perhaps with 170,000 word choices, we should always try to think before we speak.

Yes, I may make a blooper, a blunder, or even a boo-boo when speaking to someone.

And when I do, I always have regret, remorse and repentance take place in my heart.

Words can inspire or destroy. Words wisely spoken are winners!