For Eliza Doolittle

"Words, words, words! I'm so sick of words!" Eliza sings in My Fair Lady. I love the song, and the character. I both agree and disagree with Eliza's sentiment about words. I love words, sometimes so much that I linger over them in a book and read the same sentences again and again. I love words which evoke colour, or sound. I love old-fashioned words that I haven't heard in years.

But I get very sick of my own words, and sometimes other peoples' words, because I also love silence.

Then there are the words that simply rub people the wrong way. Someone very dear to my heart dislikes the word "moist." I can't stand the word "hubby." It must remind me of either "cubby" or "hobby," both of which are too cute to bear. I would love to hear of words that make others of you shudder. And here's another song from my growing up years: "Silence is golden, but the eyes still see."