1754 Shiny Words

I sometimes get obsessed with the sounds of words. I never cease to be amazed by how magic they are. The fact that two people can communicate at all is wondrous and the words we use to do it seem to me like shiny objects do to a crow.
Like recently I was driving down the street and saw signs for three chiropractors in about as many blocks. Wow, I thought, this neighborhood must be conducive to back injuries. Then I noticed something else. The names of the three chiropractors were Calcara Chiropractic, Capital Chiropractic, and Cascade Chiropractic. Apparently alliteration and adjustment go hand in hand.
And good advertising sense. All the names were that much better because they employed the alliteration technique, having the sounds of the first letters match.
Effective and Efficient. Cool and Clever.
Later, I read this article about the new medical law. It talked about how negative some people's impression was of it. The article went on to say it was popularly known as Obamacare. Which actually was a term invented by Republicans to put it down. So wouldn't that mean it was unpopularly known as Obamacare?
Lastly, in connection with a chapter in my new book, I was researching the word bismuth. I'd always thought it was pronounced biz-MOOTH. But no, it's BIZ-muth. I also learned it's a toxic-free alternative to lead. And an anti-diarrheal. It's actually the "bis" in Pepto-Bismol.
It also was once thought to be non-radioactive but was recently determined to be mildly so. It has a half-life of more than a billion times the age of the universe.
"Why even care?" I might ask the scientist who discovered that.
If he was a smartass, and he liked the sounds of words too, he might reply, "None of your bismuth."
America, ya gotta love it.