When I was a kid, my mother (who is the nuture and the nature behind my usual language fussiness) frequently challenged my use of "hate" and "love." She insisted that these words meant a rarely-approached extreme, and that they should be reserved for use in connection with people, and only a very few people at that.
I dunno. I never took to that, whether for reasons of offspring-obnoxiousness or anything higher minded. As evidence of my continuing immaturity, or weak vocabulary, or whatever, I just got through ranting on Brando's blog about how I hated "Lola," "Behind Blue Eyes," and anything by Cat Stevens. (Fortunately, it was one of his always entertaining what's-on-my-random-iPod posts, so I was somewhat within context.)
It just occurred to me that Heather Havrilesky once defended her overuse of the word "fuck." Since she was first, and better, I'll not go on at length about "love" and "hate."
I'm just sayin', for those of you who think I'm a stick in the mud about all things usage.
3 comments:
And "adore" is only for God!
Ah, yes. I'd forgotten about that one.
I have never forgotten, however, your comeback to the cardinal sin of saying "round circle."
(Mom says: "Don't say 'round.' All circles are round.)
(Clare says: "What about 'half circles?'")
(Killed us at eight or ten, or whatever we were.)
Wow, that's sharp. I must have peaked at 8.
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