To the editor:

This is in response to George Gurley’s column in the March 6 Journal-World. Yes, we have some strange words now. To be fair, though, we are doing some strange things. The language that we use must keep pace with these strange ideas.

Not long ago, there was no word for a collection of essays and information that was available to anyone and changeable by anyone. It had never been done before. So, they had to make a new word for it or, repurpose an old one.

But, always remember, just because it is new, does not make it silly. (It doesn’t make it wonderful either.) So, yes, I can stand in front of my mirror and say “wiki.” I tweet (or if you prefer, I use a specialty application on my Internet-enabled cellular phone to post short updates on my life, random thoughts that occur to me and even pictures I take to a location on the Internet where friends of mine can see them and respond.) And yes, I would stand in public with my counterpart who also says such strange phonetic combinations. Provided, of course, that what they were saying was worth listening to.

In short, how can I use this “infantile vocabulary … without feelings of stupidity, shame and disgust?” Because these words describe the world around us, and the amazing things we can do in it now. And those things do not inspire such feelings within me.