Roman Reign
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I'm not nice. I'm not weird. I can't stand it when people use those words. That's "Nice." That's "Weird." The hidden meaning behind those two words can be drastically different. Sometimes "that's nice" simply means "that's a nice gesture" or is could mean "I don't care that you told me that." I hear these two words often when people are describing brands or even other people. Let's examine this dialogue exchange. Q: How's that new restaurant? A: Nice. Q: Huh? A: It was nice. Did you learn anything about the restaurant? Neither did I. I can't tell from the word nice if the diner had a terrible experience, but would rather not get into it OR the diner had a mediocre nice experience. I can't tell if the service was nice or if the food was nice. Nice in this context gives me no information about the diner's experience. And nice oftentimes (in the case of referring to other people) means "I can't stand that person but I don't know what to say." Nice used to mean pleasant, appealing, and enjoyable. The word weird is also the same way. "That's weird" is often applied in the same way. Take this dialogue. Q: Do you know *insert name of someone*? A: Yes. She's weird. Q: What do you mean? I thought you said she was a @#$&*$$# online. A: She's weird. Weird in Austin is a good thing. Weird as in non-traditional and different in an appealing way. Weird in this dialogue however, means "I don't have anything nice to say so I'm going to substitute it with a positively charged word to make it seem like I'm not really saying anything negative. Being trained in the social sciences, nothing bothers me more than when people say "nice" or "weird." The meaning of those two words can be drastically different depending on context, and even in context, they mean nothing at all. If someone is nice, is the person generous? Understanding? Thoughtful? Supportive? Consistent? I've been told many times that I'm "nice" for being the cupcake fairy. I disagree. I deliver cupcakes, brownies, macarons, and other sweet treats for a variety of reasons. Simply being "nice" isn't one of them. If someone is weird, is the person untraditional? Is the person an outlier on a specific behavior? Or is the person just plain mean, but the word weird sounds better? Quit using these generic words already because they don't give much information. I don't want to read a blog post about a beer, and someone describes it as nice. "This porter was nice" means nothing to me. I don't want to read a post in which the dessert was weird. Sometimes weird is pretty darn tasty. Chef Philip Speer's shake and fries dessert at Uchiko is pretty weird (unusual) but pretty darn tasty. If you're going to describe a person's behavior, a business's approach to social media, or the flavors of a dish, please use words that actually means something.
Weird and tasty dessert. |
