Words
The Toastmaster year has ended which means that the Small Town Toastmasters has new officers. The new president announced that the officers would be installed in two weeks. I've never understood the installation of officers. I've had microwaves,dishwashers and a furnace installed. Why do we use the same word for the officers of an organization? Does someone need to plug them in and make sure that they work?
The words we use for certain things has always interested me, even when I was quite young.
For instance, a politician is assassinated. A normal person is just killed or murdered. Why is that? The politician is a human just like me (or that's what they want us to believe), so why do they get a special word if one of them is killed?
A less gristly term is "calling". When I was a kid, one of our pastors quit to take another job. Several ministers came to be interviewed and conduct a service. In the end the church board issued a "call" to one of them to serve at our church. Why do they get "called"? The rest of us just get a job offer. (Of course the new pastor had to be installed)
If you are the President you are inaugurated. If you are a monarch you have a coronation. Elected representatives are sworn in. The rest of us just start a new job. Why do we have these special terms? Why do leaders get special words to describe their first day on the job. It seems a bit elitist to me.
I thought I knew English,but more and more I'm coming across words that make no sense to me. Bad is actually good. I looked up "phat" on an online dictionary. It means "highly attractive or gratifying" This sounds like a good thing. I always though that the correct spelling was "fat" and it meant overweight, which is a bad thing.
Does anyone know how big something needs to be if it is ginormous?
Then there is politically correct language. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not against a certain degree of political correctness. It is simply a form of politeness. I do think it has become a bit excessive. I don't have two pet cats. They are not pets. The are companion animals. I have been corrected for referring to them as pets which I've been told is an outdated term.
It is considered impolite to use the word "black" when referring to someone of African descent. I can understand that. You are defining someone simply by skin colour which causes problems. Why is all right to call someone "white"? Shouldn't this also be considered offensive? Surely we can come up with a better term.
On a less controversial topic, "random" is another word I don't understand. According to my dictionary, it means "having no specific pattern or objective;haphazard. Many times one of the younger people I know will say, "That's so random." The only haphazard thing I can see is the use of the word random.
It's enough to make you want you defenestrate something.
I hear one of the cats, I mean companion animals, getting into something. I'm going to read him the riot act. (I have to, they can't read it for themselves.)
By the way, does anyone know if there is a riot act?
The words we use for certain things has always interested me, even when I was quite young.
For instance, a politician is assassinated. A normal person is just killed or murdered. Why is that? The politician is a human just like me (or that's what they want us to believe), so why do they get a special word if one of them is killed?
A less gristly term is "calling". When I was a kid, one of our pastors quit to take another job. Several ministers came to be interviewed and conduct a service. In the end the church board issued a "call" to one of them to serve at our church. Why do they get "called"? The rest of us just get a job offer. (Of course the new pastor had to be installed)
If you are the President you are inaugurated. If you are a monarch you have a coronation. Elected representatives are sworn in. The rest of us just start a new job. Why do we have these special terms? Why do leaders get special words to describe their first day on the job. It seems a bit elitist to me.
I thought I knew English,but more and more I'm coming across words that make no sense to me. Bad is actually good. I looked up "phat" on an online dictionary. It means "highly attractive or gratifying" This sounds like a good thing. I always though that the correct spelling was "fat" and it meant overweight, which is a bad thing.
Does anyone know how big something needs to be if it is ginormous?
Then there is politically correct language. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not against a certain degree of political correctness. It is simply a form of politeness. I do think it has become a bit excessive. I don't have two pet cats. They are not pets. The are companion animals. I have been corrected for referring to them as pets which I've been told is an outdated term.
It is considered impolite to use the word "black" when referring to someone of African descent. I can understand that. You are defining someone simply by skin colour which causes problems. Why is all right to call someone "white"? Shouldn't this also be considered offensive? Surely we can come up with a better term.
On a less controversial topic, "random" is another word I don't understand. According to my dictionary, it means "having no specific pattern or objective;haphazard. Many times one of the younger people I know will say, "That's so random." The only haphazard thing I can see is the use of the word random.
It's enough to make you want you defenestrate something.
I hear one of the cats, I mean companion animals, getting into something. I'm going to read him the riot act. (I have to, they can't read it for themselves.)
By the way, does anyone know if there is a riot act?
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