Wordsmith
Some might wonder why you would separate ‘wordsmith’ from your general knowledge of languages, however only those people who have never ever come across a real wordsmith would do so. Language is the ability to get a point across, wordsmithing is getting a point across without ever actually making it; it’s an art that allows one to say much more than mere language ever will allow. When done properly you cannot offend, even though … As such it is very useful during negotiations: obviously the parties have different points of view and this needs clarifying, however sometimes the differences are so huge that such clarification might truly hurt the negotiations; here wordsmithing comes to the rescue!
I love this part of communication, what makes it somewhat more complicated however is that different languages tend to use a different style of wordsmithing. In German a prolific use of the subjunctive mood (Der Konjuktiv) can work wonders. In English we mostly limit its use, generally preferring the use of ‘just the right synonym’, or better yet ‘just the right sequence’ of ‘just the right synonyms”.
So maybe you now say: ‘Why don’t you strut your stuff?’, however wordsmithing is not spouting witticisms, it works within a specific setting, because of the specific setting.
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