That's Just...

So, something I learned, and managed to retain, in college (university for you not American folk...though I did go to what you'd call college as well) is that we misuse a word on a daily basis. Not just misuse it, but overuse it. What word is that, you ask?

Just.

I do it too. All the time. Go back and look at my postings here, I've probably done it a dozen or more times. Heck, I did it in that last paragraph (did you notice?) We all do, really. I really try and consciously not do it, especially when I'm "seriously" writing, but it still happens. It's ingrained. In fact, I could have misused it at least two times in this paragraph alone.

Just means fair. Rightful. Lawful. That sort of thing.

It doesn't mean "Only now happpened." As in "Just now." Or "nearly." That just missed. Or only. Just a gigolo. Or a couple of other things.

Actually, it does. But that's the changing lexicon for you. It's been misused for so long now, that the dictionaries are almost forced to let it be acknowledged. But I'm going to be honest with you, it's really kind of sloppy, which is why I try so consciously not to use it.

But that's not the real main reason why I still do it, even though I know that, in actuality, misusing just is fairly acceptable. I do it because focusing on that helps me to maintain focus on word choice as a whole. Word choice is all a writer has, you know? One word can make a sentence pop, or it can cause it to shrivel and wilt the entire sentence. Maybe even an entire paragraph. Word choice is as essential to a writer as individual notes to a piece of music. One out of place note and you are out of key and dissonant. Nobody wants to hear dissonant music (well, that's not entirely true) and nobody wants to read writing with poor word choice.

So, when I focus on making sure that I don't use just unless I'm referring to something right, or lawful, etc, I'm also making sure I focus on everything I say. Words are all I have as a writer. I have to use them well.

In upkeep news, I've added a random quote generator. Should update daily. I only have five quotes at the moment, but I'm going to try to add at least two a day for awhile, and build up the reservoir of other people's words.