On 9th Oct 1903, the New York Times ran an editorial which predicted it would take mankind one to 10 million years to develop powered flight. About nine weeks later on 17th Dec 1903, the Wright brothers successfully flew the first aeroplane. Not once but four times on that day alone.

Words convey ideas but action turns ideas into reality, hence the saying action speaks louder than words.

On the other hand, words, either verbal or written, can help us overcome adverse reality by communicating what action should be taken in such bad situations.

About 40 years after the New York Times a-million-year-off-the-mark prediction, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill rallied his people with the famous speech “we shall fight on the beaches”. Only short, simple words, and almost zero borrowed words from Latin, Greek or French were used for the speech.

The speech of simple words got the message across, galvanised the British public and threw aside any notion that the war was not theirs or it was a war of the high-up people who use long words and have different feelings.

In the same vein, the story of a company’s boss who often asks his helper to buy lunch for his workers will warm the heart with its positive and inclusive note.

The positive note will be lost if told as the story of a company’s CEO who often gives instruction to his general-duties assistant to acquisition food and beverages for his subordinates’ midday meal. The sesquipedalian nature of the sentence not only clouds the message but will also raise very negative class segregation notions.

Sesquipedalian has Latin origins, meaning a foot and a half long, to describe very long complicated words that can be replaced with simpler, shorter words.

Using long, complicated words is against my training as a journalist; we strive to use short, simple words so that our writing can be understood by a large cross section of society. My apologies for using sesquipedalian words (the word sesquipedalian is in itself sesquipedalian) for this piece but it is necessary to drive my point across.

Speaking of points, just recently the social media was abuzz with queries on the meaning of “cerakin” after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim used it in his address. Although the word can never qualify as sesquipedalian being of only three syllables, it is not a common word used in daily conversation by ordinary Malaysians, hence the online search for the meaning; people don’t want to miss the points in Anwar’s address.

It is commendable that Anwar made people aware that the Malay language has non-loan words such as “cerakin” to succinctly describe a process. Most people would just pluck the nearest loan words such as “analisa” instead of “cerakin”. In this sense, Anwar’s address bears some similarities to Churchill’s, as the latter was also noted for its lack of loan words, so much so that it has sparked the Anglish movement; to rid English of loan words and use only words of old English origins.

However, the command of English in World War II Britain was much more uniform throughout its population than the command of Malay in Malaysia today. There are court interpreters to ensure those who are not proficient in the Malay language understand the charges against them but who will translate the PM’s address for them? Of course in this internet age finding translations is easy but the impact of the carefully selected words would then be lost.

I would be taken for a loon if I were to ask for “omboh”, “aci engkol” and “aci sesondol” at the motorcycle spare parts shop instead of piston, crankshaft and camshaft. I don’t mind being taken for a loon but I do mind not being able to communicate my needs. Yes, those are the correct Malay words for the parts but even a Malay mechanic in an all-Malay kampong calls them piston, crankshaft and camshaft, albeit with an assimilated pronunciation. That’s the reality and words that go against reality will only cloud the communication of ideas, just like the New York Times prediction about powered flight in 1903 clouded the reality of engineering developments at that time.

A more recent event showed that the gap between the realities of ordinary Malaysians can differ by quite a margin compared to the realities seen by those in the government.

When he was in Terengganu recently, Economic Affairs minister Rafizi Ramli lamented the refusal of some restaurants and eateries to lower their prices to mirror the decreasing prices of raw materials. The chorus of “What decreasing prices?” by eatery owners and members of the public in response to Rafizi’s statement was immediate and numerous as they pointed out that the prices of raw materials have not gone down at all.

As Anwar’s “cerakin” brought out some rarely used words I have encountered in the past, thaumaturge, a rarely used synonym for magician or miracle worker comes to mind. Yes, businesses have been known to maintain their prices when raw material prices went down but to expect them to lower their prices when raw material prices remain high is like believing a thaumaturge can really pull a rabbit from an empty hat.

The magician deserved the applause but that does not mean it was real.