My bit on words

Last night someone said that words are only a transmitter of meaning. He meant that as long as the meaning was understood, the words were the right ones. Example: slipping an English word in a French sentence is alright if your listener gets the meaning.

I disagree. I'm tempted all the time. But that's not reason enough. It seems absurd to me to relinquish the use of a range of words within one language, simply because one word will do. Words are not just useful things. They are also beautiful in themselves, either because they sound lovely, or because they transmit nuance, which is more than just meaning. Just 'nice' can describe a number of things, but tasty, pleasant, blissful and soothing confer so much more than just nice that they should be used.

That doesn't mean we need to be pedantic; simple exact words will do. And short-circuiting through another language simply impoverishes a language and makes the brain lazy.