Etymology - Silence

The silence is deafening. I heard this phrase whenever I was in trouble growing up. I would get yelled at for whatever wrong thing I had done and then would be asked why I had done something so stupid. My mother would then say this phrase while I struggled with a good story, an alibi for my 'crimes.'

Silence is something that is often underused or misused in storytelling. I'm not entirely sure of the reason why but my hypothesis is that silence causes some level of discomfort in people. People seem to be uneasy in silence and always seek to end silence by interjecting sounds of any kind to break a perceived tension. But silence maybe very valuable for this same reason.

The word silence comes from the Latin word silere meaning to "be quiet or still." When we there is silence on stage we are quiet and still and there is a reaction in the audience. The reaction is different depending on the context of the silence but it always generates a reaction of some kind. We should make sure we are aware of this and use it when appropriate for various powerful effects.