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In languages that derive from Latin, “compassion” means: we cannot look on coolly as others suffer; or, we sympathize with those who suffer. Another word with approximately the same meaning, “pity” (French, pitié; Italian, pietà; etc.), connotes a certain condescension towards the sufferer. “To take pity on a woman” means that we are better off than she, that we stoop to her level, lower ourselves.
This is why the word “compassion” generally inspires suspicion; it designates what is considered an inferior, second-rate sentiment that has little to do with love. To love someone out of compassion means not really to love.
In languages that form the word “compassion” not from the root “suffering” but from the root “feeling,” the word is used in approximately the same way, but to contend that it designates a bad or inferior sentiment is difficult. The secret strength of its etymology floods the word with another light and gives it a broader meaning: to have compassion (co-feeling) means not only to be able to live with the other’s misfortune but also to feel with him any emotion—joy, anxiety, happiness, pain. This kind of compassion (in the sense of soucit, współczucie, Mitgefühl, medkänsla) therefore signifies the maximum capacity of affective imagination, the art of emotional telepathy. In the hierarchy of sentiments, then, it is supreme.
WARNING: PAPER IS DANGEROUS
The card catalog is a threat to truth and relevance! It is a constantly intensifying, present-tense menace. It becomes. It does this every day.
ckck:
Did you know that about 36.2% of the world’s population live in Zhōngguó and Bhārat? Have you ever been to see the pyramids in Misr, or the grand landscapes (and sheep) of Aotearoa? Maybe you’ve made silly puns about hungry people in Magyarország or how they’ve got soul in Hanguk?
If you didn’t get all that, here’s a handy list of what countries and capitals around the world are called in their native languages. Most of them are similar or exactly the same as what they are called in English and most languages, but some are really out there. You can also go for the overkill with this page, which lists country names as they are known in a multitude of languages, not just English. I had great fun learning that to a Chinese person I’m from Ruìdiǎn, or from Huitene to a Maori. I would say I’m from Sverige, which is what Sweden is called in our own language.
I have to admit, one of my favorite things about this story is how all these journalists (particularly the sedate, mellifluous voices on NPR) are forced to say “pussy” over and over and over again.
(via caramichele)
The earliest definition of the word in the Oxford English Dictionary is dated 1832 and refers to its origins in the French printing industry. Text was then printed in blocks of tiny pieces of metal type, each representing a different letter, number or symbol. To save time, printers would prepare ready-made blocks, known as “stéréotypes “ or “clichés,” that spelled out popular phrases and would then use them repeatedly. When the word cliché was applied generically, it was to describe something that has been seen or heard so frequently that it has ceased to seem as powerful or original.
(via werdsmiffery)
The History of English in 10 Minutes!
25 Handy Words That Simply Don’t Exist In English
All great but this one is particularly wonderful in its specificity.
If you cannot understand my argument, and declare: It’s Greek to me, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger; if your wish is father to the thought; if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool’s paradise -why, be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut tut! For goodness’ sake! What the dickens! But me no buts! - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.
Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
Today in words I want to say and say and say: lollop.
