Social commentators often say that ‘Words matter’. Often, this phrase is used within a conversational framework denouncing unpleasant language that is somewhere between insensitive and abhorrent. In Cliché Land, this little two word axiom pops up in every movie or tv script dealing with legal or moral concerns triggered by inflammatory words. Well, I’m a little bit tired of the phrase ‘Words matter’ always having a negative connotation. I want to turn this topic around, and start to use the phrase ‘Words matter’ in a positive, educational, or even humorous way.

By now, if you read my blogs, you may have noticed a recurring theme – my Wife and I run a very child-centric family. The two of us feel strongly that it is our duty to show our children all the parts of ‘the World’, good, bad and indifferent. The one caveat is that the activities must be ‘age appropriate’ for our kids. As long as that one constraint is met, we basically take them everywhere we go.

There was a wonderful commercial I remember from years ago where a matronly woman named Clara Peller judged hamburgers by the amount of beef she found in them. Often she was disappointed in her quest and shouts “Where’s the Beef?” in frustration. Wendy’s was the chain who came up with the advertising idea and to this day the line has become a catch-phrase for value delivery and customer expectations.