Word Specificity vs. Word Choice

Analysing word choice is one of the most difficult aspects of writing - either in revising your own
work or in interpreting someone else's. Usually you might end up cutting down your word count, removing a cliché or two and then moving on to the next article. But rather an word choice, I've come to adopt the phrase "word specificity".

But what is the difference between the two?

Word Choice

First, let's go over the general connotations of this phrase:

Throes of Creation by Leonid Pasternak.
Picking the right words is usually a stressful process.

• Deals primarily with wordiness - and thus elimination of repetition
• Stresses originality. To do so, you must avoid cliché or overused images.
• Creates a sense of openness.

None of these things are inherently bad. In fact, I think that this term refers more to infinite productive possibilities in language. But it is lacking in a few regards.

Word Specificity 

In contrast to "word choice", I've found that this idea tends to promote the following:

• Stresses function over originality.
• Strikes the core of meaning rather than wordiness.
• Creates a sense of narrowness - some words are better than others.

While both concepts are closely related, I've become more drawn to specificity over the years, particularly due to my interest in translation.This revelation first appeared to me when I was read Mahrishi Mahesh Yogi's commentary on the Bhagavad Gita several years ago. What amazed me was that very simple words, including prepositions and articles, could alter the entire meaning of the sentence.

In reality, the reader of a text, not the author, interprets the text. The plot points may very well remain the same if you go into the text and replace every adjective with a synonym, or even an antonym. But the meaning and the image will change expectationally. 

As I enjoy writing and I am aspiring to become a translator, the reason I prefer "word specificity" to "word choice" is this:

Word choice is deciding whether you generally like the word "leap" over "jump".

Word specificity is realizing the difference between "leap" and "jump", and using the appropriate word.