The words we use to describe each other can impart so much visual imagery, so much detail, intended or unintended. Consider the following bit of Seinfeldian dialog:Jerry: She had man hands.
Elaine: Man hands?
Jerry: The hands of a man. It's like a creature out of Greek mytholoogy, I mean, she was like part woman, part horrible beast.
Now, doesn't that paint a picture? Can't you just see that woman wrapping her hands around the tail end of a lobster and ripping it off with ease? Some folks have a real knack for painting a picture. The words they use can encapsulate someone so perfectly, so completely. A word or two can sometimes fill our head with such a vision, it's almost as if you were staring at a photograph.
I remember back in college that I was fumbling to describe one of our staff workers to a colleague. I came up with a description that I thought was accurate and complete. I uttered words to the effect of "He had two eyes, and a mouth right beneath his nose." I got a blank stare. Then my colleague kind of shook his head at me in disbelief. I then saw a light go on in his eyes and he said, "Oh, you mean the man with the angular features." I was blown away. What a choice of words. I would have never have come up with this on my own, but it was the perfect word to describe who I was talking about. Around this same time, I was reading an article about the lead singer of the band Duran Duran (boy they were uber-cool back in the day). The journalist described the lead singer Simon LeBon as having "curious good looks". What a turn of phrase. I am not even really sure what they were implying or intending, but this phrase kind of stuck with me. Somehow it seemed to fit. But I must give one word of caution. I have known folks who attempt to describe a woman as "handsome". In my mind this describes a she-beast. A woman can be beautiful, hot, pretty, voluptuous, gorgeous, seductive, ..., but handsome is a word that describes a young Sean Connery, Brad Pitt, or Weird Al Yankovitch.
