Monday, June 20, 2005

Ridiculous

1. inspiring scornful pity
2. completely devoid of wisdom or good sense
3. broadly or extravagantly humorous; resembling farce

So I have decided to, once and a while take a look at words that are very common in the english vocabulary and see if we really use them in its proper form. I know I don't use words properly, and it's always intriqued me to see what words really mean. So, today, I have decided on ridiculous. The reason I chose this word was because yesterday a woman came in at work and decided that our lower cut socks (ankle socks or whatever) are ridiculous. She repeated this ad naseum. I took 3 definitions from the dictionary, but none of them seem to pertain to this particular use of ridiculous.
1. Why should these certain socks arouse scornful pity? They are what they are, what the manufacturers make.
2. They are not devoid of wisdom or good sense, as they are wonderful to wear when you are wearing shorts and capris, yet you are in a situation where sandals are disallowed.
3. They are definitly not humourous, nor resembling farce. They are just socks. Well one time, when I was a little girl, I had socks with musical instrument design on them, and little sunglasses.

So there you are, a very brief look at the word ridiculous, and how I believe she chose the wrong word for it. The next time I say ridiculous, I will be using my brain editor to make sure I'm using it properly.

Ciao

posted by Kim @ 4:04 PM