Welcome to the Collective

As a student of language and grammar, I have always found collective nouns to be particularly fun. Everyone knows about a litter of kittens and a pack of wolves, but fewer are familiar with a cackle of hyenas, a dignity of dragons, and a choir of serial killers. (Seriously, whoever came up with that one deserves a high-five. How fantastically macabre!) I found it curious, though, that words themselves do not yet have a definitive collective term. 

It's almost a philosophical question, if you think about it: what one idea accurately summarizes the units of language? What is language for? What do words do? Someone suggested " a Babel of words" - nicely Biblical, sure, but words existed long before man thought he could supplant God. According to the Creation account in Genesis, the entirety of the universe owes its existence to words. Thus, if we're looking for a term that describes more than language's history, we need to go beyond a reference to Genesis chapter 11. 

It brings us back to the question of what words represent. Words give humans the power to communicate ideas. Words can be used to hurt, but also to heal - to destroy, but also to create. Words are by their very nature abstract and transcendent. They can be small, but they can be grand. 

The Process

I spent a good deal of time pondering what I might suggest to fellow logophiles as an appropriate collective noun for words, but everything I tried lacked something. "Epiphany" lacked simplicity, "compendium" lacked beauty, and "communication" sounded clinical. I wanted a term that would imply elements of profundity, majesty and simple elegance; I wanted something that was encouraging and optimistic. I also wanted something that was common, because words are, too. It was only when I again considered the Creation story that I found my term: grace.

I'm Christian, so I view everything through the lens of the Creation account. It might surprise you to consider that my beliefs on the origin of the world inform how I view human beings, and even language itself, but it's really a natural progression. I believe that God willingly spoke the world into being, and that he created humans specially "in his image." I believe that "image" doesn't merely mean "physical appearance," but rather includes an important aspect of the divine that we humans uniquely share: dominion. Genesis 1:26 says that humans were to rule the earth and fill it. In effect, God made Adam and Eve little gods over the Earth; they were on top of the food chain, they named the creatures (signifying ownership and dominance), and they tended the Garden. God chose to give ruling authority to humanity, though he didn't have to. (I mean, it's not like he couldn't ensure the plants got enough water - he created water.) So, because humans are special to God, they should be special to me. Because God valued life enough to create it, I should value it enough to protect it, encourage it, and rejoice in it. 

So...how does language come into play, here? Again, it comes back to Creation. God created everything because he wanted to do it, not because he was lonely or bored. If I believe the Bible when it says God is perfectly self-sufficient, then I have to conclude that he is perfectly satisfied in himself. Humans need companionship, but God is triune and has all the companionship he needs. Humans need entertainment, but only because life sometimes fails to satisfy. God, however, is infinitely creative (see Creation), so it's reasonable to think he can keep himself occuppied with just his thoughts and the company of the Trinity. Therefore, God didn't need to create the world at all. He chose to do it. The word we use to describe receiving a good thing that was undeserved is grace. God spoke the universe into existence and breathed life into man solely because of his grace. 

Words created the world. Words are a product of grace. Words (and the Word, c.f. John chapter 1) are the instrument of grace. Hence, a grace of words.

The Product

Believe it or not, there's more. I chose grace as a collective noun because I was visited by a rare wave of optimism. I'm generally a pessimist and a cynic (though an idealistic one; run that through your filters and see if it makes sense), but I felt that a collective term should represent not only what words are, but also what they should be. Again, I went to the Bible. 

When the Bible talks about words and communication, it overwhelmingly states the need to speak with grace, kindness, wisdom, honesty, love, and exhortation. These things encourage others as well as honor God. If we, as image-bearers, represent God on Earth, then how we act and what we say should be in line with who he is - otherwise, we aren't giving an accurate representation. If God's words are gracious and kind and loving and true, so should ours be. 

A grace of words. That's what I'm hoping this blog will be. 

I can't offer you a list of topics I'll cover, because I'm honestly writing whatever comes onto my heart or sticks in my brain. It's very likely I'll mention grad school, wedding planning, Supernatural, and Doctor Who at some point, only because those accurately sum up my life, at the moment. As you can tell, however, I have a penchant for the philosophical, the theological and the nerdy, so those three will give my posts a veneer of cohesion. And anyway, this blog is really for people who want to read the random ramblings of a random twentysomething. If that's you, welcome to the collective.

Until next time,

Katya