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Words, Fraught with Meaning Not Found in Any Dictionary
You can’t know another person’s heart from a single tweet or a passing comment
About a decade ago, I made a comment on a Black writer’s article and used the word “articulate” — not realizing that this word is fraught with implications I never intended. In fact, had I been on the receiving end, as a white writer with a university degree in English, I’d have taken it as a compliment meaning that I had “articulated my points clearly.” But admittedly, no one has ever assumed, as a default, that I couldn’t. Unfortunately, this writer and a number of commenters took the word “articulate,” from a white stranger, to be condescending, implying a white reader’s surprise that the author, who had written a powerful and insightful piece, could write clearly.
On reflection, and after reading others’ thoughts on the subject, I could see their point. I could have done without the barrage of hate; I could have done without being labeled a racist on the strength of this one interaction. But I could see their point. And I know Black people are judged, daily, on the strength of no interactions at all. I could hardly cry, “That’s not fair!” But it helped to speed that process of understanding, when one commenter took the time to explain to me why the writer took offense. As Ming Qian does…
