One word

[Alan]

Hi,

It’s amazing how one word can take on lots of different meanings. It pops up in so many disguises from every day conversation, to serious political debate and seems to be accepted wherever it goes and without the slightest sense of awkwardness. The key to its success is its versatility. It always reminds me of the child you were at school with. You know, the one who always comes top of the class, wins all the clever school prizes and then becomes captain of all the sports teams and scores the most goals (or runs if it’s that weird game called cricket.) You can imagine this breed saying they’re off abroad for a bit and then when they come back you learn they’ve won a gold medal at the Olympics. Then of course there are those words that tend to stay in the language larder and only come out on special occasions. And that’s when you check their sell by date just to see if they can stand up on their own. Others have a special cupboard all to themselves and again come out on high days and holidays when you have special visitors, like mother’s special bone china tea service. I’m thinking of the word ‘hubris’ meaning pride or arrogance. When spoken aloud, it engenders a sort of respectful silence, often because people are not too sure what it means.

But for versatility and all round ability I would plump for a word (both verb and noun) like ‘change’ as a winner. When someone says: I’ll be back in a moment, I’m just going to change’, you could be forgiven for thinking that they intend to come back as someone different, like Dracula? But you would be wrong. All it means is that they’re going to put on different clothes. Then you can change your mind (have a different opinion), change your tune (adopt a different point of view), you can change gear when you’re driving a car, change up if you want the engine to turn with fewer revolutions or down if you want to do the opposite. You can change sides as politicians sometimes do and join a different political party. Why, you can change your spots – usually used in the negative because it means that you won’t change your character or way of behaviour: He’ll never change his spots (like the leopard) because he’s far old to do that now. Businesses, restaurants, hotels change hands and that means they are run by new people – they are under new management. If you live in the UK, you’ll be used to the weather changing. A favourite word used by weather forecasters here is to describe the weather as changeable. If you say that, you’re never really wrong!

But what about the noun? That has a life, too. You can have small change in your pocket, which is notes or coins of low value. You can have a change of heart deciding you’re going to be more friendly and co-operative. You can also ring the changes in your house by painting the walls a different colour every so often. A British statesman once said: A wind of change is blowing through Africa. Now everyone uses it when they talk about governments adopting new policies or people changing habits. Another favourite is a sea change, which is what happens in a country when everybody starts thinking differently.

Well, that’ll do for the moment. I just thought I’d introduce a slightly different topic on this forum in the hope it might encourage others to think of other multifaceted words. It’s all just for a change, you understand.

PS

I’ve just run this post through my Grammar and Spelling checker and it suggested one or two ‘changes’.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Everything in the Garden is lovely

[Yankee]

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Sometimes any discussion of a seemingly simple and positive change is akin to the pulling of teeth, isn't it?
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Alan]

Hi,

Is that a comment or a philosphical thought? I'm afraid I don't know what you mean.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Future

[prezbucky]

Not to be crass, but the f-word is also highly versatile.
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Yankee]

[lost_soul]

Hi,

Check this out F**k

That word is really cool. I was ROTFFLOLing for like three minutes
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Alex

How much upchuck would a woodchuck upchuck if a woodchuck could upchuck ?

(a guy from Russia)

[auldglory]

Alan -- what about the word, "well"?
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And so they buried Hector, Breaker of Horses.