There would appear to be many vocabulary words in the American-English lexicon, whose use, traditionally and universally, summon up positive feelings and colorfull mental imagery; a few illustrtative examples are, “wonderful,” “victory,” “mealtime,” “chocolate,” “justice,” and “family.” Regular followers of plinyblog are well aware that we have a nuanced penchant, viz., to strive for the attainment of proper accreditation and recognition for deserving words, usually relegated to the “back of the bus,” in our language spectrum; i.e., words, that unfairly been given insufficient credit and short shrift. If there is such a phenomenon known as ” seeking verbal justice,” that would, funtionally, define our intended goal.
In pursuit of this nuanced motivation, we have in the past, published posts, recognizing the true intrinsic importance (and the general lack of due credit) for words, such as “like,” (the epoxy holding married couples together, in a long established marriage, after the early passion has waned), “repetition,” (rather than meaning useless and boring, the dynamic that keeps us alive, physiologically, maintains our jointure to society, and vitally constituting the essential modus for experimentation and general learning), as well as several others which we have deemed justly deserving of mention.
“Nice” is a tiny, non-assuming adjective, which, like a valuable and well-cut diamond, has a great many precious, sparkling facets. As relevant, it will incorporate the facets of pleasant, empathic, kind, generous, thoughtful, tasty, accommodating, caring, equitable, fair, pleasant- smelling, attractive, and factors making for an acceptable family or societal member; examples of such uses are, “he looks nice,” “that was a nice thing to do,” “you have a nice touch,” she served me a nice portion,” It is nice to make your acquaintence,” It was nice to see the way Grandpa held the baby,” “nice catch,” and, “She received a nice portion of the Estate. ”
To observe the casually spoken words, “that’s nice,” when used as an arrogant and dismissive response, often imperiously accompanied with a hand gesture (usually, a bored wave), amounts, in our judgment, to verbal sacrilege, as well as the identification of an intolerant (and a not “nice”) person.
-p.
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