War of the Words

Connie invites Eugene to a party, but he claims that he will be too busy studying. Their disagreement grows into an argument over what counts as fun. Connie calls Eugene boring and a snob; Eugene describes Connie as socially maladroit, meaning awkward or unskillful. Henry and Charles overhear them but do not understand the unfamiliar word. To the boys, it sounds like a terrible insult.

Whit interrupts and orders both employees to stop using words to tear each other down. Connie objects that Eugene hides insults inside vocabulary she does not understand, while Eugene insists that he is merely precise. Whit does not care whether the attack is a name, a word, or a whole sentence. Its purpose is still to hurt.

At school, the misheard word begins changing as children repeat it. “Maladroit” becomes something like “millijoit,” “militroid,” and several other variations. Nobody knows what it means, but the mysterious sound makes it exciting. Children apply it to classmates, armies, relatives, and anyone who annoys them.

Connie looks up the real word and confronts Eugene about its insulting definition. They obey Whit’s instruction only on the surface. Instead of obvious insults, they use words such as friend, comrade, partner, and brother with such exaggerated sweetness that every term becomes an attack. Their vocabulary has changed, but their intent has not.

Henry and Charles continue using the nonsense version. When Rusty Gordon demands their money for his invented fudge-bar charity, one boy calls him the strange word. Rusty does not know what it means either, but its tone makes him angry enough to intimidate the boys and take what they have.

The boys search dictionaries and consult a teacher but find no definition. One becomes uneasy and decides not to use a word that feels insulting, while the other keeps insisting that it is only meaningless noise. In the library, their joking grows loud. When the librarian orders them to be quiet, the word is muttered at him in contempt. He recognizes that he has been called something disrespectful and contacts their parents.

Henry’s father is less interested in the missing definition than in the purpose behind the word. His son did not intend to call the librarian handsome or powerful; he intended an insult. After learning that the expression came from Whit’s End, the father restricts Henry and considers ending his visits there.

Whit hears about the trouble and questions Connie and Eugene. They deny knowing the nonsense word, yet immediately resume insulting one another through falsely affectionate language. Whit points out that words become weapons because of the intention behind them. Worse, the children at Whit’s End have been watching the adults and copying their example.

Charles helps reconstruct the original argument. When Connie repeats that Eugene called her maladroit, Charles recognizes the sound. He had misunderstood and repeated it until the school created a new word. Whit tells Connie and Eugene to apologize to one another and to the children. He then visits Henry’s father to explain.

Whit admits that the nonsense term was a misunderstanding, but Henry’s father says the definition is not the deepest issue. Before spending time at Whit’s End, Henry had not spoken disrespectfully to adults. Watching people in authority use language as a weapon has taught him that such behavior is acceptable. Whit accepts the criticism and promises that they will work on the problem.

While restricted, Henry must write a five-hundred-word essay on dangerous language. His first attempt pads a few sentences with repeated words and copied Scripture, but his friend suggests writing about what actually happened. They have learned that a word need not have a dictionary definition to wound someone.

Another child arrives with a brand-new nonsense insult. Henry and Charles want no part of it and walk away, even though the newcomer protests that it does not mean anything bad. They now understand that the speaker’s purpose can give even a made-up word the power to harm.