I
guess the English language has changed since 1946 when this thesaurus was
published, or I’m really stupid. I never heard of this meaning for the word
mean (as a verb: average; as a noun: medium, happy medium, average, balance,
normal). But then I looked in The Synonym
Finder, and there’s happy medium in there too!
And
here I thought if you weren’t nice, you were mean. Or what I mean to say is if
you’re not nice, you’re kind of a bully. Or they don’t have any means to go by
in order to change.
food for thought: I don’t know why people are
mean. I’m not sure what they have to gain by being so. But did you know that
mean is a happy medium?
I know that you mean well, as always, Lynn. I have used that word in place of cool ... as in, "That is one mean car!" I don't know why people are mean. Some come out of the womb power hungry and selfish and do what they can to make sure that they get their way, even if it involves hurting others physically and emotionally.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Kathy M.
All I know is the kids learn about mean (as in average) in math class, because they are always asking me the difference between that and median and mode. But happy medium? Weird! Love your illustrations as always!
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing mean about you, and I mean that both ways. :) You're far superior to average, and of course you're a sweetie-pie, not a meanie-head (my daughter's word). Your illustration is perfect.
ReplyDeleteYour posts always get me to thinking. The concepts of mean, median, and mode confused me in statistics class, but a person who is mean doesn't need much explanation.
ReplyDeleteAs far as mean people, I guess it's "different strokes" for different folks. (THAT is what Willis was talkin' 'bout.)
ReplyDeleteThat's what's so neat about the English language. One word can MEAN so many things, but as a happy mean (medium) I'd prefer to mean what I say, and not be mean.
ReplyDelete