The Secret Life of Pronouns_ What Our Words Say About Us - James W. Pennebaker [119]
Going for the Tell: People’s Use of Obscure Words
Over the course of my career I have written more papers than I care to admit. Perhaps ten years ago, a colleague thanked me for a review I had written about her research. I was flattered, of course, but a bit puzzled since my review had been written anonymously. “How did you know I was the author of that review?” I blurted out. She just laughed and said one word: intriguing.
Intriguing, indeed. I went back to many of my reviews, then articles, and even books. I was shocked by how frequently I used the word intriguing. Even this book is littered with intrigue—I just can’t help myself. Over the years, I’ve noticed that most of my colleagues and friends have their own favorite but relatively obscure words that even they aren’t familiar with. The words aren’t used at high rates but they find their ways into the occasional e-mail, Facebook post, blog, tweet, or article.
Did Madison or Hamilton have tell words in their articles? With a little sleuthing it turns out the answer is yes. In almost half of his papers, Hamilton used the word readily; Madison never did. In nine of his fifteen articles, Madison used consequently, compared with Hamilton’s use of the word three times across his fifty-one papers. Hamilton also had a fondness for commonly, enough, intended, kind, and naturally. Madison tended to overuse absolutely, administer, betray, composing, compass, innovation, lies, proceedings, and wish.
If we just examine the use of these fourteen words, the statistics are promising—almost a perfect score for cross-validation. However, the story for the unknown authors comes out quite differently than what the earlier scholars claimed. They suggest that Hamilton actually wrote eight of the anonymous essays and Madison wrote only three.
What is truth in this case? Reading Douglass Adair’s delightful account of the controversy surrounding the eleven articles, it is clear that Hamilton and Madison had very different memories of who wrote what. Adair is ultimately more sympathetic to Madison’s claims, although the objective evidence to assign authorship is not compelling either way. Like Mosteller and Wallace, I have no in-depth knowledge of the actual case. Nevertheless, historians should know that from a statistical perspective, the case is still open.
WHAT SONG LYRICS SAY ABOUT THE BAND: THE BEATLES
The Beatles were together for about ten years before breaking up in 1970. During their time together, they recorded over two hundred songs and influenced music, politics, fashion, and culture for the next generation. The lead songwriters, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, together or separately wrote 155 songs, and George Harrison penned another 25. Even today, scholars—and the occasional barfly—debate about the relative creativity of the band members, who ultimately influenced whom, and how the band changed over time.
Most of this book is devoted to the words people generate in conversations or write in the form of essays, letters, or electronic media such as blogs, e-mails, etc. Music lyrics, however, tell their own stories about their authors. My good friend and occasional collaborator from New Zealand, Keith Petrie, suggested that a computerized linguistic analysis of the Beatles was long overdue. Once we realized how complicated the topic really was, we invited another music lover and psychologist from Norway, Borge Silvertsen, to join us. What could we learn about the Beatles by analyzing their lyrics? Quite a bit, it turns out.
In many ways, the lyrics of the band reflected the natural aging process one usually sees in all working groups. Recall from the last chapter that as working groups spend time together, their conversations