²⁹ No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need,^[a] so that it gives grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29 CSB)

My father used to say, “Foul language makes a small man.” If you watch or listen to just about anything today you would not think anyone sees the impact of words this way any more. We use far too much of what I consider throw away language.

We have allowed our language to degrade both in casual conversation and in what hits the airwaves in much of the media we consume.

Much like with food, a steady diet of something that is not good for us has a lasting effect. With food we grow fat, with language we grow lazy. We often stop trying to learn and grow our vocabulary. We use words as a crutch to hold up breaks in conversation or to emphasize a point when we have nothing of true value to say.

We forget the power words have and we use them loosely and casually.

When we stop and actually work to craft our dialogue we find a few things. First, it is usually best to say to little than to say too much. Second, people listen when we can speak from a broader vocabulary and when we craft our words into something visual and stimulating. People remember too.

I have quite a few books writing in the 18th and early 19th century. We used to truly craft words into something special. The verbiage in these books make me slow down and truly read for the message. It seems that nothing was wasted back then. The turn of a phrase had weight and meaning.

Today we are a throw away society and no where is this more evident than in the words we speak.