Head vs heart words
I pay close attention to the words I choose. Avoid jargon. Use inclusive language. Stay on brand.
Those are some good, basic word rules. Then there are choices we make that give our writing a more immutable component, which I can best describe as ‘energy’.
We make choices constantly as we write, both consciously and subconsciously. I’ve written about choices and Personal Writing Style before, here.
But this is about some of the choices we don’t make, that culture makes for us, some of the connotations and denotations our English words come loaded with.
We have a long history of mind vs body dualism in Western culture… thank you Plato, Descartes, Leibniz and a series of other musty, old men who carved our ideas of things into two: right and wrong, body and soul, male and female, peace and war.
I would argue that modern English language inherited this dualism. I see it creeping into my writing and the way I write for clients, watching words that come ‘loaded’ with logic vs emotion, intellect vs soul, head vs heart.
I noticed this when I was working through 2022 planning with a group of like-minded entrepreneurs last quarter. One of us bristled at the word strategic, choosing to use, instead, the word intentional.
This felt like a head/heart choice. It’s subtle yet tangible.
Strategic feels logical, sound, stable, determined…. Which are good things! Left-brained people eat that stuff up!
Intentional feels more emotional, passionate, softer somehow… also a good approach that gets you exactly where you want to go.
(And listen, you don’t need to agree. Language and culture are complex, changeable and relative. You will for sure read these words with different baggage than I do. My point is, it’s interesting to notice.)
It’s interesting to notice that some words feel softer, smoother, more heart-led. And they often have harder, pointier, headier counterparts.
As a self-proclaimed ‘Voice Ventriloquist’, copywriter Justin Blackman refers to this as Male vs Female energy. Of course those gender distinctions are problematic, which he admits. But for lack of a better dualist term, here’s what he says (in an email I can’t link to so you’ll just have to trust me…):
“I use gender analysis tools to match copy. They tell if your writing sounds more masculine or feminine…the information I’m giving here is a broad generalization based on statistical analysis and averages—and NOT a statement about which gender is better… (most) men use more concrete and informational [words]...Women (mostly) talk about things in relation to the subject, the reader, or themselves.”
Consider this list of Intellectual vs Emotional words. TBH a lot of the ‘emotional’ words on this list are just simpler, more common synonyms. But some of these are good head/heart options.
Do you sense a different energy coming from these sort-of synonyms? Anecdote vs story; smart vs intuitive; challenge vs dare; concerned vs worried; learn vs discover.
This isn’t a perfect science, of course. Like I said before, language and culture are social sciences, not given to mathematical reductions (ugh, which was a whole different part of my Philosophy of Language degree involving a whole different set of musty, old men). What I want you to notice is the baggage our words bring to us and to others.
Consider that if something is rubbing you the wrong way, doesn’t sound right on, feels ‘off brand’ or doesn’t land with your audience, maybe this is why. If a sentence sounds too woo-woo, try swapping out ‘softer’ words for ‘harder’ words. If it sounds too corporate, academic or flat, try translating some of the language into heart words.
That’s your challenge… I mean… I dare you: Notice. Play. Repeat.