A Figurative Rainbow

A word and a color are much alike; both are beautiful, both have unique meanings, both can be combined with others of the same to communicate more completely. Creating art with colors is not my field, instead, the pictures I paint are made of words. Everything can be phrased in dozens of different ways, each one leaves the hearer with the same info, but each one also leaves subtle nuances on the hearer - nuances that affect how the info is received, processed and understood. Simple things like word order, voice intonation, and even the specific words used are part of effecting nuances. If you've ever painted a picture, or created another piece of art, you will be familiar with the vast array of choices that must be made in order to end up with a result that communicates what you intend; selections such as material of canvas, painting style, color blending, etc. Writing and speaking is the same; every word has different meaning - it "introduces" itself differently, couple it with another word and the whole flavor of the mixture changes. Maybe the subtle nuances can be noticed most in one's apology to another; the simple "I'm sorry" can be the most bitter tasting phrase as well as the sweetest - depending on it's nuances. 

Words communicate more than their intended meaning, they tell you about the speaker, they tell you about the audience, they reveal (and communicate) a wealth of information. Word artists use this data to gain a better understanding of an individual, and adjusts his communication according to the "profile" that the individual fits. In other words, using the information that words can carry to perceive the nature of a person allows one to put his/herself into the other person's shoes, thereby being able to witness how the subject would respond to input - if one is accurately able to dictate the subjects responses, then one is also able to word input such that the subject receives the precise, intended meaning. That may be hardly easier to understand than the prior explanation, but the gist of the matter is that if you are able to "taste" words and their nuances, and are able to accurately put yourself in another's reality, then you will be able to discern his/her reactions to external input, and thus, you will be able to discover a way to use words to speak what is needed into each situation in the subjects life. 

Maybe being able to sense nuances in words is a gift, maybe it's what makes one a good poet or writer, maybe it's a talent that God gives to some and not others - I do not know. But I do suggest treating words as colors, and treating each conversation as a new painting, and treating each person as unique; make your words count - it would be sad to reach the end of life and discover that you wasted the gift of words and speech because you were too hurried to notice the art behind them...