Choose your Words Wisely

A couple of weeks ago, I added the Follower widget to my site and wrote a post about why.  The experiment is paying off, since most of the people who are following my blog I hadn't met before, and several had blogs I had previously been unaware of.  It's interesting and fun getting to know the people who stop by.  I hope you always feel free to comment, though lurking is perfectly okay! :)

I get a newsletter from Change.org, and in today's it talks about a recent Twitter exchange between Demi Moore and Kim Kardashian (there's also a blog post on Change.org on the subject).  Normally, I wouldn't bother with celebrity gossip, but since writers are concerned with word usage, I thought this was interesting.  Here's what occurred (taken from Access Hollywood):

Kardashian wrote, “Big pimpin w @SerenaJWilliams @LaLaVazquez @Kelly_Rowland Love u girls!”

Moore responded asking Kardashian, “Are you using the word “pimpin” as in pimping?”

Kardashian Tweeted back, “Doesn’t everyone? LOL… Nothing wrong with dancing to Big Pimpin’ by Jay Z in the club! Having a girls night out, gotta love that song!”

Moore stated, “No disrespect I love a girls night out but a pimp and pimping is nothing more than a slave owner!” Demi Tweeted, adding in another post, “If we want to end slavery we need to stop glorifying the “pimp” culture.”

Words have power.  By arguing against the word Pimp, Demi Moore has sparked a discussion of sex trafficking across the internet.  What we write has the power to inspire our readers, so we need to make sure we're choosing the right words.  This is not to say we should censure ourselves.  If there's a reason to use the word pimpin' then that's fine, as long as the writer does so understanding the connotation and derivations of that word.