There are no Synonyms
This article reprinted from the John T Unger Weblog. The original article can be found online:
http://blog.johntunger.com/2005/10/there_are_no_sy.html
© 2008, John T Unger
But there are things very much like synonyms.
Right, just a little finicky language geek humor. My buddy Marc Dubey had a nice subtle jibe that he would aim at people when he caught them in a moment of imprecision… "yes," he'd say, "That's just like (insert item here)." His point being that while there may have been a similarity, the two things were very much not the same thing. As in, "Having a good excuse to go war is just like having an actual reason to do so."
I love working with pattern, metaphor and visual similes in my art. But choosing the one, specific thing to use is of huge importance also. Henry Miller always went way out of his way to choose exactly the one right word to capture his meaning. Sometimes, in order to make sure he had the right word, and not just something pretty close, he would have to make the word up. heh. But it was always definitely the right word. I love that kind of precision.
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