In Calvino’s lecture on exactitude he focuses mainly on language. Out of all the lectures this was probably my favorite because it focused on language. I love words and playing with language and always work to find the exact word I need to express myself. When Calvino talks about exactitude in reference to language he is trying to explain how it is important to use the right words. I completely agree with this, it drives me crazy when people use words in correctly or use twenty words when one would suffice. I choose to use a thesaurus as my image because when I think of finding the right word I think of a thesaurus. Sometimes you cannot just use pretty you have to use attractive, beautiful, or gorgeous to get the correct meaning of what you want to say. Calvino wrote that people should have a plan as to what they want to say and how they want to say it to avoid repetition and use precise language. This makes perfect sense to me. The study of language and how to use it has decreased dramatically and even though the language is changing it still should be studied. Calvino would be shocked today as to the inexact way language is being used.

While Calvino talks about exactitude in reference to language, I feel that being exact can be used in many different areas of life. When I think of exactitude the work of literature that first comes to mind is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Doyle presents a character that is not only exact in his language but also his thoughts and ideas. You could say in a way that he really is exact in his use of words because of his fine use of deductive reasoning makes it so that every statement he makes is exact. He uses everything around his to make not just guesses but correct conclusions which have to be exact or it drives him insane.