Nice, the bane of the english vocabulary
adjective: nic·er, nic·est.
Pleasing and agreeable in nature: had a nice time.
Having a pleasant or attractive appearance: a nice dress; a nice face.
Exhibiting courtesy and politeness: a nice gesture.
Of good character and reputation; respectable.
Overdelicate or fastidious; fussy.
Showing or requiring great precision or sensitive discernment; subtle: a nice distinction; a nice sense of style.
Done with delicacy and skill: a nice bit of craft.
Used as an intensive with and : nice and warm.
It's a particular pet hate of mine, the fact that a word as congenial as 'nice' has become the only word that anyone can think of to use when trying to praise or describe something pleasantly. If I hear the word one more time I will end up on a charge for murder. I have to say, it's not the word itself. Nice is a perfectly wonderful word, I just think it's become vocabularic vomit. "That was nice," or "oh that's so nice!" has become a turn of phrase. We use nice as if it were some sort of intellectual excuse for a lack of any expansion on our vocabulary. Has our 21st century society become so t.v addicted that we no longer use our minds at all? Are we a society of zombies?
I suppose I've just answered my own questions, since my mind is questioning enough to ask these types of questions. Even though I love TELEVISION! I still have enough "little grey cells" to think of these things, and get seriously annoyed about them... ;) I actually get so annoyed that I find myself thinking that I might just be offended if anyone said I was 'nice'.
What really really really gets right up my nose comes from living in a country that isn't my birth country. At this time of my life I live in Belgium, where they do actually speak very good english, the problem is they have a tendency to believe that their english is better than it actually is. I don't mean to be cruel or critise, rather to point out a small failing where students could improve, is they so wish... PLEASE, please do not use nice in inappropriate places!
I was listening to an announcement... I can't remember exactly what it was about but it had the gist of a tragic accident... the guy who followed him 'belgian speaking english' said, "Thank you for that nice announcement..." Sometimes I feel like hitting my head against a brick wall. It must come from the three years of teaching english, I'm now infected with the need to correct everyone's english!
The really problematic thing I have is that I also automatically translate, even if I only speak five words of the language. But that's a subject for another blog! Let's just lay this nag to rest, because let's face it, this is more of a nag than a blog...;) Please, whoever you are, take care not to overuse the word 'nice', buy a thesaurus and give my ears a rest!
(the definition of nice was found on http://www.ask.com)
Pleasing and agreeable in nature: had a nice time.
Having a pleasant or attractive appearance: a nice dress; a nice face.
Exhibiting courtesy and politeness: a nice gesture.
Of good character and reputation; respectable.
Overdelicate or fastidious; fussy.
Showing or requiring great precision or sensitive discernment; subtle: a nice distinction; a nice sense of style.
Done with delicacy and skill: a nice bit of craft.
Used as an intensive with and : nice and warm.
It's a particular pet hate of mine, the fact that a word as congenial as 'nice' has become the only word that anyone can think of to use when trying to praise or describe something pleasantly. If I hear the word one more time I will end up on a charge for murder. I have to say, it's not the word itself. Nice is a perfectly wonderful word, I just think it's become vocabularic vomit. "That was nice," or "oh that's so nice!" has become a turn of phrase. We use nice as if it were some sort of intellectual excuse for a lack of any expansion on our vocabulary. Has our 21st century society become so t.v addicted that we no longer use our minds at all? Are we a society of zombies?
I suppose I've just answered my own questions, since my mind is questioning enough to ask these types of questions. Even though I love TELEVISION! I still have enough "little grey cells" to think of these things, and get seriously annoyed about them... ;) I actually get so annoyed that I find myself thinking that I might just be offended if anyone said I was 'nice'.
What really really really gets right up my nose comes from living in a country that isn't my birth country. At this time of my life I live in Belgium, where they do actually speak very good english, the problem is they have a tendency to believe that their english is better than it actually is. I don't mean to be cruel or critise, rather to point out a small failing where students could improve, is they so wish... PLEASE, please do not use nice in inappropriate places!
I was listening to an announcement... I can't remember exactly what it was about but it had the gist of a tragic accident... the guy who followed him 'belgian speaking english' said, "Thank you for that nice announcement..." Sometimes I feel like hitting my head against a brick wall. It must come from the three years of teaching english, I'm now infected with the need to correct everyone's english!
The really problematic thing I have is that I also automatically translate, even if I only speak five words of the language. But that's a subject for another blog! Let's just lay this nag to rest, because let's face it, this is more of a nag than a blog...;) Please, whoever you are, take care not to overuse the word 'nice', buy a thesaurus and give my ears a rest!
(the definition of nice was found on http://www.ask.com)
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