As you may, or may not know, I've been focusing on improving my vocabulary. I've been trying to use positive words.
Most of us know the obvious... speak kindly of others...think before you speak...and so on.
While I'm mindful of the above, as all mentioned in my previous post, Sticks and Stones, I'm also trying to change my vocabulary. You might be a little confused, so I'll give you an example.
Many times I find myself saying "I'm anxious to know how s/he's doing"
anx·ious
[angk-shuh
s, ang-] adjective
1. full of mental distress or uneasiness because of fear of danger or misfortune; greatly worried; solicitous: Her parents were anxious about her poor health.
2. earnestly desirous; eager (usually followed by an infinitive or for ): anxious to please; anxious for our happiness
3. attended with or showing solicitude or uneasiness: anxious forebodings.
Origin:
1615–25; < Latin anxius worried, distressed, derivative of angere to strangle, pain, distress;
1615–25; < Latin anxius worried, distressed, derivative of angere to strangle, pain, distress;
Synonyms (words that have the same meaning)
1. concerned, disturbed, apprehensive, fearful, uneasy.
1. concerned, disturbed, apprehensive, fearful, uneasy.
Antonyms (words that are opposite)
1. calm, confident. 2. reluctant, hesitant.
1. calm, confident. 2. reluctant, hesitant.
As you can see anxious seems to project a negative feeling. If I were to replace my sentence with a synonym of anxious I would say... "I am fearful of how s/he is doing"
That sentence in itself projects no faith. It's like a concerned Eeyore. "I wonder how they are doing, but I'm confident nothing is better, in fact, things might even be worse"
In order to change my "projected outlook" I just need to change my words.
"I hope s/he is doing better"
"I'm confident s/he is making progress"
Both of these options imply you still don't know a concrete answer, but they deliver a much more positive attitude.
So while I've been conscious of the "chit" in my "chat" I've discovered that my knowledge of words is lacking. I admit, I've been using a thesaurus quite often. However I was watching a movie the other day and a speech in the background of a conversation caught my attention. This is how it went...
The most endangered species in our nation
isn't a big woodpecker
or some freshwater fish.
It's the tongue in our heads!
Listen to the truncated [shortened/abbreviated]
language of today.
The average vocabulary is a third
of what it was 100 years ago.
Words fall out of our mouths and die at our feet!
The landscape of vocabulary
is being hacked down
and grubbed up by the dribble of pop culture,
. . . poisoned by lazy obscenity . . .
. . . infantilized by a youth-obsessed media . . .
And 'syntax' isn't what Nevada brothels pay the IRS.
Do you know what syntax is?
I didn't, so I looked it up....
syn·tax
[sin-taks]
noun
1. Linguistics .
c. the rules or patterns so studied: English syntax.
d. a presentation of these: a syntax of English.
e. an instance of these: the syntax of a sentence.
2. Logic .
a. that branch of modern logic that studies the various kinds of signs that occur in a system and the possible arrangements of those signs, complete abstraction being made of the meaning of the signs.
b. the outcome of such a study when directed upon a specified language.
3. a system or orderly arrangement.
4. Computers . the grammatical rules and structural patterns governing the ordered use of appropriate words and symbols for issuing commands, writing code, etc., in a particular software application or programming language.
Seems pretty fitting huh?
I use words all the time, so do you. Our words send a message, whether it be the one we intended or not. What message are your words sending?
Usage note
The earliest sense of anxious (in the 17th century) was “troubled” or “worried”: We are still anxious for the safety of our dear sons in battle. Its meaning “earnestly desirous, eager” arose in the mid-18th century: We are anxious to see our new grandson. Some insist that anxious must always convey a sense of distress or worry and object to its use in the sense of “eager,” but such use is fully standard.
The earliest sense of anxious (in the 17th century) was “troubled” or “worried”: We are still anxious for the safety of our dear sons in battle. Its meaning “earnestly desirous, eager” arose in the mid-18th century: We are anxious to see our new grandson. Some insist that anxious must always convey a sense of distress or worry and object to its use in the sense of “eager,” but such use is fully standard.
However, "eager" defined is "impatiently longing" of which is still consistent with the negative connotation
No comments:
Post a Comment