October 13, 2002
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Today's Peeve
I've always enjoyed words, like most Xangans, I suppose (why else would we be here?) But it bugs me when people cheapen a powerful word.
Two examples came to mind today:
Nazi/Hitler.
Usage I came across: "My boss hates it when we mess around on the Internet on company time. She's such a Nazi about it! She's f-ing Hitler!"
Now, come on. Hitler and the Nazis he was in charge of killed and tortured thousands upon thousands of people in the most horrible ways we can think of. Can your boss really hold a candle to that? Think twice before calling someone Hitler or a Nazi... if they're of German or Jewish descent, this could be an especially sensitive thing to say.
Rape.
Usage I came across: "I moved out with 10 months left on my lease, and the complex is trying to charge me all this money. They're raping me!"
I've broken leases, and I've been raped, and I promise, they weren't similar situations. I don't know what percentage of rape survivors cringe when they hear the word used this way, but I sure do. My apartment complex never drug me to an empty building during a blizzard, disconnected the phone line and held a knife to my throat while violating me.
You
Granted, this one is a lot more subjective, but it's just a personal thing, not really a definition-based thing.
Usage I came across: "When you're dead, you'll resemble rotting flesh."
Once we die, I don't think that our bodies are US anymore. They're the house we lived in, sure... but what makes you love your loved ones ceases to live in the flesh house once they pass on. Who they are is still with us, and with everyone they came into contact with, and with everyone that will encounter them in some way after their body has ceased to function.
I equate it to this: If my best friend moved away, I wouldn't go to the house he used to live in to think about him or visit him. He's not there any more, and it just wouldn't be much fun. I guess this also explains why I don't visit cemeteris, or worry much whether a person chooses to be cremated or buried. It's their business, and who they were to me isn't dependent on it.
Ok, enough about me. What about you?
Comments (9)
Once again, a matter of perspective. Because you have a deeper association than many (likely because you are a deeper person than many) you are going to have a stronger emotional reaction than the rest of the world.
But I wouldn't agree with a statement that says that those words are somehow sacred. They're still just a string of symbols and characters. It's the attachments and symbolism that are significant. I respect and appreciate your experience, but I'm not going to quit calling the manager at work a Nazi.
i see what you mean.
i rarely visit cemetaries. The only time I do is when I'm really missing the person, and even then I know they aren't there, but it's a concrete connection to something I can't see.
Great points made here.....we've all made this impromptu mistakes.
I think that we invent the idea of the self leaving the body so that we don't have to deal with the notion of identifying with rotting flesh. But that's just me.
Who they are is still with us, and with everyone they came into contact with, and with everyone that will encounter them in some way after their body has ceased to function.
Beautifully put!
I get it... And for the most part, I agree. One of my aunts was murdered over 10 years ago, but I only went to her grave a couple times. She just wasn't there. On the other hand, I've found there are some people who linger near their grave. It can be creepy.
Very good point and I agree with you, as for me you'll have to come and read about me.
You make a good point. I think that any word that is overused loses it's meaning, or at least has it's meaning scattered. I'm thinking about trendy words over the past decade or so, I'd hesitate now to say that anything was "awesome" the word just doesn't mean what it used to.
I completely agree with you on the "you" comment. I've often told my family (halfway seriously) that they can just put my body out by the curb in a Hefty bag when I die. I'm not there any more.....