Webster-Merriam People’s Top Ten Favorite Words and how the Bible might have something to say about it.

21:180 Sometimes there just aren’t enough ‘B’s (Photo credit: kinerific)

Part 2

It is often said that rich people’s children are born with a silver spoon in their mouths. But it also seems to me that people with too many words are born with a silver foot in their mouths. They always seem to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. And their chatter goes on and on and on.

Flibbertigibbet: a silly flighty person

Flibbertigibbet may have been coined to imitate the sound of idle chatter. The word first appeared in Middle English as flepergebet, and it has enjoyed a number of senses: gossip; chatterer;demon; imp. Shakespeare gave flibbertigibbet its current spelling, but the modern meaning only dates to the end of the 19th century.

When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.? Proverbs 10:19

Researchers have found that women speak about 16,000 words a day and men fall shy of that number just by a very narrow margin. On the other hand we have some with the ability to speak 16,000 words per minute. They are so gifted with the spiritual gift of chatter that they sometimes over use it. They say thing at the wrong time, don’t know when to stop talking, dominate the conversation, and sometimes are the loudest in the room. Gossip is usually the content of their conversation, but exaggeration is mainly their problem.

Here are a few other places in the Bible where we can receive counsel about too many words:

Proverbs 19:13; 1 Peter 2:1,2,3,4 “…a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain. / wives… Your husbands may be won without words…by the conduct of your lives…with the imperishable beauty of a quiet and gentile spirit.”

Proverbs 17:27, 28 “27 Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. 28 Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.”

Matthew 12:36, 37 36 “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

James 3:2 “For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.”

The point here is – if you want too be taken seriously by your friends and colleagues, seen as wise and intelligent by those around you, and resist the temptation to sin – Let Your Words Be Few.