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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: R. Balan who wrote (3283)	7/27/1999 1:35:00 PM
From: jbe	Respond to of 4711

Speaking for myself, Roberto, I agree with your observations. In fact, I would go even further. We have associations with certain words and phrases; these associations, of course, are not reflected in dictionary definitions. And the type of vocabulary an individual uses often tells us a great deal about the speaker. This, too, won't find its way into the dictionary. What dictionary, for example, is going to specify that Word X is used by Fundamentalist Christians, say, but never by Atheists? Or that Word Y is used only by working class people, but never by intellectuals? And so forth and so on... If the language being spoken is your first language, you are likely to be more sensitive to such nuances than if it is not. Incidentally, I think that is why many people who never swear in their own language like to learn (and use) foreign "cusswords." The foreign "cusswords" just do not have the same associations for them as the native ones do. Getting back to our original examples, "passed away" or "passed on." As you will recall, I was referring to my own reaction to the use of these terms: In the case of Mr. A, I would be inclined to say that "Mr. A. is dead," or "Mr. A. died yesterday/last week." Personally, I find both "passed on" and "passed away" to be prissy circumlocutions, of the type that are used when we are speaking about something....um....indecent. In your response, you confirm, for me, what I said. In the environment you were brought up in, death was evidently considered "indecent," or at least speaking about it was considered "indecent." I was brought up very differently, in an environment where you were expected to be honest about death -- and other human activities. So, yes, our choice of words, and our interpretation of their meaning, does depend on cultural conditioning, among other things..And the associations we have with them -- or with some of them -- can often be more powerful than the "real" meaning. For example, try yelling the word "Liberal!" in a crowded theater. Can you imagine the stampede that would result? <ggg> jbe