they're trying to say Desire: but it comes across as Need; or something craved but less urgent than Desire. And they say Our wants, or they say, simply, Want: as in the big consuming longing that's hardest to deny. But there's no possible substitue for the actual word Desire. So when did it seemingly fall out of style to say it like it is? My want conveys differently from My desire. It seems flatter: the air taken out of ardor, the flame tamped down to tame. Can you imagine Lorca writing To burn with want and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves; or Willa Cather saying The world is little, people are little, human life is little. There is only one big thing—want? I listen hard but there's just no substitute for Desire itself.