Word for January is Rhetor. (ret-or)
Now when you get to rhetorical then it can smack of "vain babbling." Like when sarcasm is skillfully woven into our conversations. ("Your hairdo is so, uh, quaint.") And a rhetorical question is one you really don't want the person hearing it to answer, (Hmm, I wonder if that would include questions like "Does this make my butt look big?")
The reason I selected rhetor is because whether we realize it or not we are all teachers of language; we influence and model communication everyday. The sales person learns quickly if we are kind and gracious or shortsighted and impatient by our verbal volley. Children learn quickly if we are snippy or genuinely invested by our responses. Mates even hear past our words and can pinpoint our insincerity or resentment by weighing our tones.
I knew as a teenager there were something's my mom said that I would never say. Ha. Think again. No one was more surprised than me when as a parent I opened up my mouth and my mother came out.
Gratefully my mom said so much that is worth repeating. She was a rhetor and never knew it. As am I…as are you. Our words matter. Let's purpose to use them skillfully, thoughtfully, and artfully. Paint wonderful word pictures that help others to hear and see those things that are "true, pure, just, lovely and of good report." Nothing will invigorate your speech more.
Rise up Rhetors the world needs us!
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