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I usually don't blog about politics or current events, but the latest scandals involving Alec Baldwin and Paula Deen are worth noting, because the words they chose have had consequences. To recount briefly, Paula Deen revealed that she had used the "N" word, while Alec Baldwin called a reporter a "toxic little queen." While these two certainly aren't the only celebs to have foot-in-mouth disease, they do illustrate that the words we choose matter.  Words have weight and can color how we think about people, concepts, and ideas. That's why it's so crucial for professionals to carefully consider every word they use in their workplace writing. As we preach in all of the classes we teach, readers judge us by the words we use; they make decisions about our professionalism, intelligence, ability to do a job, and thoroughness based on words. And these two celebs clearly illustrate this: Paula Deen has been labeled a racist and Alec Baldwin a homophobe. Whether they are or aren't is beside the point: what's important is that they've been labeled as such based merely on words, not actions or anything else. Words.