Say your piece, or peace

Peace by Chocolate advertisement — An advertisement for Peace by Chocolate, a shop that donates 3-5% of all company profits to the **Peace On Earth Society**

My book club met yesterday. We had a discussion that went something like this:

HOST: If you were to write, “Say your (piece)(peace), how you you spell it?

BOOK CLUB MEMBER #1: I would write p-i-e-c-e.

BOOK CLUB MEMBER #2: I would say that it’s p-e-a-c-e, because after you’ve spoken, you feel at peace.

BOOK CLUB MEMBER #3: I think it’s p-i-e-c-e.

BOOK CLUB MEMBER #4 (that would be me) : I think it’s p-i-e-c-e because you are contributing your “piece” to an interaction.

HOST: I always spelled it p-e-a-c-e. It’s saying your peace. Speaking what is in your heart so you can rest easily.

2 out of 5 book club members had a peaceful take on the expression.

And you know what? I like both. After all, the play on words works for the Peace by Chocolate company in Antigonish, NS.

I feel better now that I’ve said my peace. I think I’ll have a peace of chocolate.

Our book club was discussing The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, a book that left some of us feeling less than peaceful. We all loved the title though.

9 thoughts on “Say your piece, or peace”

Jennifer Grant September 22, 2020 at 2:31 pm

Thanks for the link to the Peace By Chocolate site. That was pretty whip stitch thinking.

Arlene Somerton Smith Post authorSeptember 22, 2020 at 2:35 pm

Oh, you do make me laugh, Jennifer. Maybe that will be the topic of my next post . . . ?

marianbeaman September 22, 2020 at 4:41 pm

Writers get to play with words, all the live-long day. And we get to speculate about words like “piece” and “peace.”

I’ll have a piece of chocolate whilst I ponder the thought. . . . and, consider what “whip-stitch” means, outside of the world of baseball. Ha!

Arlene Somerton Smith Post authorSeptember 24, 2020 at 3:19 pm

You know, we hadn’t even thought of whip-stitch in the baseball context. That’s another idea to tuck away. Maybe you’ll see it next week . . .

Ally Bean September 23, 2020 at 3:58 pm

I think technically it is “piece” when used in this situation, however I like words so I could be happy with either spelling. If I were to say my piece about this conundrum I’d suggest eat some chocolates, groove on the sugar high, and let peace flow over you.

Arlene Somerton Smith Post authorSeptember 24, 2020 at 3:31 pm

I agree – technically it is p-i-e-c-e. Luckily, we can sometimes know the technical and fly with some other appealing alternative anyway – especially when it’s for a peaceful purpose.