Awe and Awesome

Awe and Awesome Awe and Awesome Awe and Awesome By Maeve Maddox Words, like human bodies, become enfeebled over time. Awe and awesome are two such words. In the early Middle Ages, awe meant â€Å"immediate and active fear; terror, dread.† Because awe was frequently used to describe the fear inspired by the divine, it came to mean, â€Å"dread mingled with veneration.† The adjective awesome was used to describe something that inspired a feeling of solemn and reverential wonder tinged with latent fear, the feeling that Ahab’s crew would have experienced as Moby Dick rose up out of the sea next to the Pequod, or that Moses thrilled to when the voice spoke from the burning bush. In the 21st century, the adjective awesome is applied to just about anything: 10 Unexpectedly Awesome Cover Songs How to Become More of an Awesome Person What Are Some Really Awesome Ways to Use Chocolate Mint? I Had Some Really Awesome Noodles Today Clearly awesome has dwindled so far from its original meaning as to mean nothing at all. Perhaps writers of such statements could pause and try to think of a word that still retains a distinctive meaning: 10 Unexpectedly Catchy Cover Songs How to Become A More Likeable Person What Are Some Really Inventive Ways to Use Chocolate Mint? I Had Some Really Delicious Noodles Today Unlike the adjective awesome, the noun awe continues to mean something. In the expression â€Å"to be in awe of,† awe means â€Å"respectful admiration†: Cricketer in awe of cataract surgeons We are all in awe of the dedication and commitment of our polio eradication colleagues around the world. The expression â€Å"in awe† conveys the experience of an emotion felt at seeing something fearful or sublime in nature: We  watched in awe  as the  Aurora  Borealis danced around us, all alone in the Icelandic Countryside. Photographer Kenneth Watkins watched in awe from just 30 yards away [as two male lions fought for mating rights]. But the expression â€Å"in awe† is also dwindling into meaninglessness: Travellers in awe of new airport [The store clerk] watched in awe as she stacked up an enormous armload of music.   I watched in awe as my friend ate her first push popsicle ever. Finally, there is the military coinage â€Å"shock and awe† in which awe retains the meaning of fear or dread: shock and awe: a military doctrine based on the use of overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force. Even this fearsome expression is being used in various non-military contexts with descending coherence: If organized labor were to throw its money and numbers behind a shock-and-awe effort to organize fast food workers across the country, they would no doubt emerge immensely strengthened. Greek workers resist shock and awe austerity measures   The Shock and Awe of Ikea’s Employee Spying Program [Employees] meet personal needs by using inappropriate openness to shock and awe co-workers.   What he has done to date has left everybody in shock and awe. This video  left me  in  shock and awe. Kids use the Walkman for the first time and react with  shock and awe.   Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Addressing A Letter to Two PeopleOne Fell Swoop30 Words for Small Amounts

Essay on Honor

Essay on Honor Honor is defined as esteem paid to worth and is associated with reverence, dignity, distinction, reputation, good name and a good sense of what is right, just, and true. The key part to honor is having respect for others and for yourself, the two must act together because with out both you have nothing. I strongly believe that reputation is hard to gain and easily lost. A speaker once said, â€Å"Every day thousands of planes fly somewhere and there is never any news or headlines about a successful landing, however when one crashes it is all over the news.† This fact reminds me of honor in that you must maintain honor because one infraction will result in the forfeiture of ones honor and in a sense will be headlines, and if not to others definitely oneself. â€Å"Honor is like a rugged island without a shore, once you have left it, you cannot return.† Honor is something in which is not obtained and sustained easily. One must have patience and study to become a person of integrity and goodwill. Honor is an everyday thing; obstacles trying to deter one from being honorable lay in life’s everyday path. Perseverance is a key to honor; one must fight the constant impeding objects in order to maintain the highest level of honor. An island is often looked at as something isolated and secluded yet has a certain mystique about it. Honor is much like an island in this sense. A test of all will power living with honor will not always be the most popular route and possibly could cause short- term alienation. Honor must come from inside and be unable to be swayed by minor factors. The shore is a place, which represents compromise. Honor has no room for compromising in no way is it a partial way of life, it cannot be turned off and on when desired. People often see honor as something malleable yet it is not one cannot pretend to be honorable in certain environments and not in others. An absolute way of life, honor is like a pass or fail course, there is no in between. The shore is a place of change, for instance if one stays on the shore he/she will drown at high tide, the shore is not an option. The last part of the quote from Satires is the most important of all the aspects. Honor does not have three strikes and you’re out or nine lives policy, everybody is given one chance and if that person chooses to invalidate their honor it is lost. Honor does not have a series of choices. I see honor much in the way of a quote by well known American author Gore Vidal, â€Å"One is sorry one could not have taken both branches of the road. But we were not allotted multiple selves.† I firmly believe in living with the highest level of honor, which in a way is the only degree of honor. In the present day many people have relaxed their standards thinking that lying once or twice will not matter because no one will find out. This common mentality is what is hurting society; people have lost the strong belief of self-respect, which is a major part in honor. Honor should always be in one’s conscience and should be reflected through their actions. It is a distinct characteristic in a person that separates that person from a group. Honor must be the center of what one’s moral revolves around and is the capstone of a person.