The Power of Words


I love words.  I love the sound of them, the smell of them, the feelings of profound attachment that I have to them.  Which comes in handy as I'm a writer you know.  But there were two words that made me cringe every time I heard them.  For a long time, if someone were to say the one, I would wait for the other shoe to drop for the other. Now granted, these two words did not come up in every day normal conversation.  No, they were more out of the ordinary.

But when I did hear them, it made me clench up in revulsion and disgust for a long time.  The reason behind this is a long story.  But the shortened version is that a friend of mine, fell in love with her roommate who did not have feelings for her.  Though you could have fooled me.  Anywho, be that as it may, he had very limited experience at 27 with the opposite gender, more book learned then common sense learned.

So he thought by saying these two words would push her away.  Instead it had the opposite.  She started working out, trying to match the looks of the girl he had lost (well, never really had).  But the two girls were just way too different, it would never have been possible, but she tried.  She would say those two words as a mantra, so much so that I grew sick of hearing them.

He then threw the teenage affair at her to push her away, that really backfired.  Then he said something so hideously stupid, that I had to step in.  He was my friend as well, and even though I had to break a rule of mine...never get in the middle of two friends, I did so.  I told him off first of all, and told him all he was doing was putting hoops in front of her, so that if she jumped through, she would win his affection.  The last one was so unfair to say, it was insurmountable.  I slammed him good for that one.

So I told him, "Look, just say NO.  Tell her, no, I'm not interested....no, I am not interested.  She'll get it."

So he did, and it worked.  She stopped trying to beat herself up about it, and trying to browbeat him into being with her.  She's doing okay now, and sees that they never would have worked.

It took me around 15 ish years to get over the revulsion to the two words, and I think it was a gradual lessening, though it was also so out of the ordinary that I didn't hear it as often, so that might have had something to with that.

ARGH...yea, I hear you, I still haven't said the two words....and maybe I shouldn't...why inflict pain upon my readers?  Why tell you the 2 words that had me cringe in revulsion every time I heard them together....well, why not.  Maybe I should share the wealth.


"Aesthetically Pleasing."

There, I've used them....enjoy!