Fascinating interview on NPR this morning with author Nick Laird. While the bulk of the interview was about Laird’s novel Glover’s Mistake (which sounds fascinating, PR people take note and send me a copy!) I was particularly intrigued by Laird’s suggestion that there should be a slow language movement just like there’s a slow food movement. He was talking about – as many of us are – how the internet and new technology is changing the way we think, read, consume, etc. And he proposed a Slow Language Movement that would work on cultivating attention, deep reading, advocate for poetry. His thought was that the language of the internet is terse, tends towards the shallow and cynical just by nature of its limitations. It doesn’t really provide for reflection, introspection, depth or emotional nuance. So what can we do to cultivate these things?

What do you think? What would a Slow Language Movement look like?