Lost Virtue Words Our Students Need to Rediscover
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Words matter a lot. Words matter because they carry meaning and value and mold individual and cultural behavior. Words reflect and shape worldviews.
The clearest way to see through a culture is to attend to its tools for conversation … one must begin, I think, by pointing to the obvious fact that the written word … has a content … whenever language is the principal medium of communication—an idea, a fact, a claim is the inevitable result. The idea may be banal, the fact irrelevant, the claim false, but there is no escape from meaning when language is the instrument guiding one’s thought ... words have very little to recommend them except as carriers of meaning.1
When we change words, we change meaning. When we change meaning, we change thinking. When we change thinking, we change worldviews and values. And, when we change worldviews and values, we change cultures. This is why English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton proclaimed, "The pen is mightier than the sword."2
We have changed many words we use and abandoned many others. This is particularly true of what I'll call “traditional virtue words." I define traditional virtue words as words that encapsulate or express qualities considered morally good or desirable in a person. Virtue words serve as descriptors and aspirational principles guiding conduct and character in personal and collective contexts. They are words that have the power to shape moral values and behaviors. They are words for instruction and reflection, helping individuals and communities to articulate and strive towards their highest ethical ideals.
Here are some words we have abandoned or substituted with weaker ones requiring less commitment, along with brief definitions. I have put in parenthesis words that often replace traditional virtue words.
Duty: A moral or legal obligation to perform an action or conduct oneself in a certain manner, often regardless of the cost for doing so.
Honor: A code of integrity, dignity, and pride, often associated with moral uprightness and respectability.
Chivalry/Chivalrous: Exhibiting the virtues of bravery, courtesy, honor, and protection of the weak.
Gallant/Gallantry: courageous behavior, polite attention or respect given by men to women.
Gentlemen (everyone): Men of good, courteous conduct.
Ladies: (everyone) Women of good manners and behavior, and refinement.
Spouse (Partner): A person's life-long companion in marriage, with a husband being the male spouse and a wife being the female spouse.
Perverted (Orientation): Deviating from what is considered moral or normal, especially in sexual behavior.
Licentious: Lacking legal or moral restraints, especially disregarding sexual restraints.
Fornication (Sleeping Together): Sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other.
Righteousness: the quality of being morally right or justifiable.
Fidelity: faithfulness to a person, cause, or belief, demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support.
Chastity: the state or practice of refraining from extramarital, or especially from all, sexual intercourse.
Rectitude: morally correct behavior or thinking; righteousness.
Temperance: moderation or self-restraint, especially in eating and drinking.
Frugality: the quality of being economical with resources; thriftiness.
Fortitude: courage in pain or adversity.
Prudence: the quality of being wise and cautious.
Magnanimity: the fact or condition of being magnanimous or forgiving; generosity.
Piety: the quality of being religious or reverent.
Benevolence: the quality of being well-meaning; kindness.
Most of these words have either been abandoned or replaced with terms requiring less virtue and weaker commitments, for instance, substituting "partner" for spouse. A partnership is akin to an extended hookup. It typically does not carry the same level of commitment as marriage.
These traditional words and the virtues they represent hark back to an earlier era when such qualities were more explicitly valued and taught in our families, churches, and schools. Sadly, the language surrounding virtue has devolved into using weaker words that, while related, are not framed in the robust traditional language of virtue.
A Christian School Response
We do not have the power to change the cultural abandonment of traditional virtue words nor prevent their substitution with weaker versions. We can, however:
Make traditional virtue words part of your vocabulary, and do not shrink from using them in everyday conversations, presentations, and writing.
Add these words to classroom vocabulary lists and expect them to be used in written assignments.
Politely challenge others to reacquaint themselves with these words and start using them.
Watch your language. Don’t let culture cause you to use anemic words as substitutes for vigorous virtue words.
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1 Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
2 Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). The pen is mightier than the sword. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 4, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_pen_is_mightier_than_the_sword