Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Words on Fire


Data grabbers think they have gotten a handle on the language of depression by analyzing the work of Kurt Cobain, Sylvia Plath, and lots of patient journals. They have analyzed myriad data points in the writing of chronic depressives and identified a few features. Overuse of the pronoun "I," for one, and use of absolutes like "never" and "always," for another. Of course, emotionally charged words words like "sad" and "blue" too. I think they missed it though. The language of depression grows out of pain and proximity to mortality. Often it's barely audible because of the crushing weight of despair. The world looks awful from down here, under the weight of a board being loaded with rock after rock, wondering which one will be one that cracks your ribs, stops your heart.

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