Float like a Cadillac, Sting like a Beemer

or words that move

“But words can’t talk.”

I was reading along in Words on the Move, by John McWorter, about the fascinating journey words have taken throughout history and suddenly I stumbled across this really fun turn of phrase, “But words can’t talk.” I stopped, paused, and re-read this line. Of course words can’t talk. Why did the turn of phrase give me such pause? And then it hit me that according to Charlotte Mason, words might not be able to talk, but they certainly do tell us an awful lot. In fact, she poses the thought that words, both verbal and non-verbal, are the vehicles in which ideas make their way through the world and interact with us.

In the same way that James introduces the tongue as a “a small member…that boasts of great things,” saying, “how great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire,” so Miss Mason gives us words as the spark that ignites ideas, “the living progeny of living minds.” One of the tenants of her educational method is that ideas must be living and the best way to introduce living ideas is through quality literature and quality conversation. Another way to say quality or living, is well-written, placing well-crafted, intentionally chosen words together to convey a particular message in a particular way that gets the reader to think.

Miss Mason was a firm believer that words matter and that the ways in which they are put together is one of the most important aspects of learning. Some words are simple; “talkative”, for example. Others are elaborate, like “loquacious,”—two similar words but two very different vehicles to carry ideas. Talkative is the Volkswagen Golf to loquacious’s Seville. I mean, a Cadillac can’t talk either, but it sure can say a lot about a person. Words, too, whether utilitarian or overtly artistic, will speak volumes, spark fires, and drive home new ideas.

And that got me thinking about writers and vehicles and if a writer was a vehicle, which one would he or she be... So, I thought we should have some fun. Some immediate favorites come to mind:

Jeep Wrangler-Tom Clancy

Cadillac Seville-Tennyson

Model T Ford-Charles Dickens

Prairie Schooner-Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Thing-Dr. Seuss

Please join in and tell us which authors drive words home in your favorite vehicle?

Cara Williams, 2023