Sunday, January 4, 2009

   Language & Words I don't like
My wife and I have been watching a series this week about the 7 deadly sins. It is a great show to spark conversation. Most of what I find interesting is the language & how different people define the words.

Envy by one definition was when Someone wanted something someone else had & would be willing to destroy that thing or the person just so the other person could not have the desired object. I wholeheartedly agree that is a negative and possibly self-destructive attitude. Not very good for society. On the flip side, the desire to want something someone else has can be a very good thing if it motivates you to push yourself and achieve your potential. Is that still envy? Is it still a sin? I am going to have to rewatch that episode for one segment. The muslim culture has a phrase that equates to "it is as Allah wishes". This is used after complimenting someone else's successes or possessions to indicate that you appreciate what they have, but there are no negative feelings of jealousy surrounding it. I would like to incorporate that into my vocabulary because I like the sentiment.

These shows led to more conversations surrounding language. One of the words we discussed was "upset". For me, I don't use this word too much because I generally feel that it is a vague word that normally does not accurately describe how I am feeling. Does this mean I never get "upset"? Doubtful - many times I feel emotions that could be classified as upset, I just feel that there are better words to describe my feeling. When I hear people use the word upset, they can use it instead of the words: disappointed, sad or angry - or any combination of those. If I was feeling those emotions, I would probably use those words instead. The angry one is the toughest for me - sometimes I might want to say that I am indeed angry, but for fear of the person reaction to anger, I might demote the status in the sentence to "upset".

Now for my pet peeve - "got". I really dislike that word. First of all - I don't like how the word sounds. It is just an ugly word. Second - similar to "upset", I feel there are other words in every situation that are going to be more precise in describing the action. Take the sentence "I got a 20" for example. How did you get the 20? Did you buy the 20? Did you borrow the 20? Are you simply stating that you do indeed currently own 20? Did you earn the 20? Was the 20 a gift? I simply feel that the word "got" really is not the best word for any situation. If you ever catch me using that word, please slap me.

Take care & Happy New Year everyone!

-bunraku
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