For yearsandyearsandyearsandyears now, I\u2019ve had a grudge against the word \u201cnice\u201d. It\u2019s a nothing word. It\u2019s a non-committal word. It\u2019s bland, near-meaningless and flaccid. Plain. Vanilla. Un-descriptive.<\/p>\n
The trigger that caused my hate-on for the word was a British sitcom from the \u201870s, whose title and details now escape me. A guy had asked someone (partner? Friends?) their opinion of something, and they replied, \u201cNice\u201d. The guy\u2019s response to this description was words to the effect of, \u201cNice? Nice, nice nice. Dull as ditchwater!\u201d<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t even remember if the character was using \u201cdull as ditchwater\u201d to contradict the notion that the object of the opinion was \u201cagreeable\u201d or \u201cpleasant\u201d, or to point out that the opinion provider\u2019s vocabulary lacked vitality or acuity. Needless to say, I interpreted it as the latter.<\/p>\n
\nThe original expression is \u201cdull as ditchwater\u201d not \u201cdull as dishwater\u201d. Another case of misheard idioms, although the mutation occurred long-enough ago that \u201cdishwater\u201d now seems to be the more popular version. A Google Ngram<\/a> shows \u201cdish\u201d becoming the more popular version in the late 70s, with \u201cditch\u201d in decline since 1947. Some observers suggest that the phrase will further mutate into \u201cdull as dishwasher\u201d. MS Word\u2019s spellchecker flags \u201cditchwater\u201d as a misspelt word. Sheeeeeeesh!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Have a Nice Day<\/h1>\n
The word \u201cnice\u201d has had an interesting journey. Its origin is nescius<\/em>, a Latin word meaning \u201cignorant\u201d, and its initial meaning in English was \u201cfoolish, silly, ignorant\u201d. At various times since the middle ages it has been used to mean wanton, lascivious, strange, rare, tender, delicate, over-refined, coy, modest, shy, fastidious, punctilious, requiring great precision or accuracy, slender, thin, unimportant, trivial, critical, doubtful, kind, considerate, agreeable, delightful, and pleasant.<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re wished a nice day by the person at a store checkout, just what are they wishing you? \u201cHave a lascivious day\u201d\u2014now there\u2019s a thought to send you on your way to the parking lot! Fortunately, most of the meanings listed above were obsolete a long time ago, so I suspect you\u2019re being wished a pleasant or agreeable day (assuming you or the wisher care).<\/p>\n
Have You Been Naughty or Nice?<\/h1>\n
This depends on when Santa was making his list and checking it twice. According to the dictionary I got for Christmas 1963, I needed to be \u201cfastidious, of critical taste, punctilious, particular\u201d in order to appear on the correct side of the list, or if Santa was using the word in its colloquial sense, \u201cagreeable, well-flavoured, kind, considerate\u201d.<\/p>\n
I was a lot of things when I was eight years old. I was a bright, intelligent know-it-all; my \u201cfriends\u201d beat that out of me when I was ten. But I don\u2019t think I was fastidious or well-flavoured. I guess that\u2019s why I only got a dictionary for Christmas. (Kidding, M&D\u2014the fact I kept it is testimony to how much I appreciated it as a gift!)<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s Another Nice Mess You\u2019ve Gotten Me Into<\/h1>\n
\u201cNice\u201d is frequently used ironically. Those of you who are old enough (or interested enough) to know about Laurel and Hardy may be surprised to know that the heading above is the correct quote\u2014Ollie never said \u201c\u2026fine mess\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
So now I\u2019m worried about that store checkout farewell\u2014are they all being ironic?<\/p>\n
Nice One, Reg!<\/h1>\n
I hope you\u2019ve found this article informative and somewhat entertaining. Thanks to irony, the phrase \u201cNice one\u2026\u201d can be interpreted two ways, so either way, I know you\u2019ll agree with that heading!<\/p>\n
Your Turn<\/h1>\n
Do you find the word \u201cnice\u201d precise enough? What other words do you find to be excessively bland? Have you nursed a grudge against a word for over half your life? Let the world know by leaving a comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For yearsandyearsandyearsandyears now, I\u2019ve had a grudge against the word \u201cnice\u201d. It\u2019s a nothing word. It\u2019s a non-committal word. It\u2019s bland, near-meaningless and flaccid. Plain. Vanilla. Un-descriptive. The trigger that caused my hate-on for the word was a British sitcom from the \u201870s, whose title and details now escape me. A guy had asked someone (partner? Friends?) their opinion of… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[24,22,21,23,667],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rant","tag-have-a-nice-day","tag-naughty-or-nice","tag-nice","tag-nice-mess","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1649,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions\/1649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}