Can You Spell Tourettes?

Soundtrack, cause you know you want one, by Blind Pilot.

David and I have been threshing out a new song (which actually mentions a threshing room floor) called "A Bad Year for Small Animals".

** Please see next post for more details.**

This venture has sent me to Rhymezone a few times and this reminded me of an important rule for writers that I've enforced in my own work, whether for short stories or song lyrics.

First, a lovely anecdote from sixth grade.

One Geography class a fellow student asked my teacher Mr. King if he had Tourette syndrome.

I don't know why you would ask someone who has regular conniptions (who ripped a very expensive atlas from the wall and threw it into the hallway for a forgotten reason) if he had Tourettes, but my classmate was just that stupid.

Mr. King stared at him and said,

"Can you spell Tourettes? Because I don't think you should use words that you don't know how to spell. So for you, that leaves: ooh, uh, and duh."

Tip: don't use words you don't know.

If you have a general idea what it mean, click onto Dictionary.com and familiarize yourself until you can employ it confidently. This rule is especially vital for college students. Every professor and editor can identify thesaurus-driven work. Be smart.

Also, consider this: if you don't know a word, readers will not be affected by it.