Words can hurt

There’s an old playground saying that we used to bandy around a lot as children:

Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never harm me.

I said it a lot to all the bullies who laughed at me for wearing glasses, and reading lots of books, and hating Barbies, and sport, and bullies, but I never believed it.  Unkind words can hurt me far more deeply, and more permanently, than mere physical things.  So here’s my version:

Sticks and stones only break my bones, but words can really wound me.