I’m going to make an admission.

A certain English word — it comprises exactly four letters — has become, speaking proverbially, a four-letter word.

I refer to the term “text.”

My son and I have concluded that I no longer can say the word text without adding a glaring tone of derision in my voice. Indeed, whenever you read that word henceforth on this blog, you will see it italicized, as if to highlight the utter disgust, disdain and derision I’m feeling as I write the word.

Texting is a verb. So has the word text become a verb. It’s that activity people do when they send messages to each other using their cellphone. It drives me batty in the extreme even to hear others use the word as a verb. It’s not that they are merely sending a message, they have to declare they are texting someone.

I have become so disgusted with the word I cannot even use the word as it’s meant to be used — as a noun — without adding that inflection in my voice. E.g.: “Let me read the text you’ve prepared for presentation tomorrow.” See? Even when I use the word properly, I feel compelled to let you know how much I detest the word.

This is what has become of me in my older years.

It’s not that I am a precise wordsmith. I don’t consider myself to be an eloquent speaker or writer. George Will I ain’t, man.

But the way we’ve perverted some of these seemingly words simply drive me nuts.

Text?

I can’t say it any form any longer. Nor can I even write it without editorializing about it.

What’s happening to me?