Words
I've been thinking about words. Words mean things and often when talking to people it makes life so much easier when you have a shared definition on certain words. The things is I personally can't stand is when people get so hung up on the "correct" definitions that they lose sight of the fact that the same words can be use colloquially and refuse to consider context at all when talking to people, or any context outside of the one familiar to them.
I live in the south (so they say, I'm not convinced TX is actually the south) and I grew up in the south (NC) but because it was 2 different states common words aren't always used the same way which on occasion has led to some funny moments in conversations with my TX born and bred friends. I have here and there run into someone who erroneously thinks that because I use a word a certain way I am clueless as to it's literal meaning and feels the need to lecture me instead of simply accepting the way I casually use it and moving on. I find this grating for one because 9 times out of 10 I am well aware f the dictionary definition I just don't use it and also language is fluid. Words are meant to take on different connotations and one of the things that differentiates English from say Spanish is the way that common usage changes the language instead of new words having to go before a committee and adhering only to a strict standard. The richness of english belies those who would advocate rigidity for it's own sake. I I talk to people to share of myself and seek to be understood when I encounter an attitude of using the dictionary like a weapon I realize there isn't a desire for sharing with this person, they want to win. Sadly enough the only thing they win from me is my silence.
I live in the south (so they say, I'm not convinced TX is actually the south) and I grew up in the south (NC) but because it was 2 different states common words aren't always used the same way which on occasion has led to some funny moments in conversations with my TX born and bred friends. I have here and there run into someone who erroneously thinks that because I use a word a certain way I am clueless as to it's literal meaning and feels the need to lecture me instead of simply accepting the way I casually use it and moving on. I find this grating for one because 9 times out of 10 I am well aware f the dictionary definition I just don't use it and also language is fluid. Words are meant to take on different connotations and one of the things that differentiates English from say Spanish is the way that common usage changes the language instead of new words having to go before a committee and adhering only to a strict standard. The richness of english belies those who would advocate rigidity for it's own sake. I I talk to people to share of myself and seek to be understood when I encounter an attitude of using the dictionary like a weapon I realize there isn't a desire for sharing with this person, they want to win. Sadly enough the only thing they win from me is my silence.
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