Friday, May 5, 2017

Four-letter Words: E and F

This is a plural noun the singular for which has only three letters, but these come in pairs to humankind, so this is fair:

eyes.

These precious orbs are our windows onto the world, and they have been said to be the windows of the soul.  Perhaps two-way:  we look out, and to an extent others may look in.  What do your loved ones see when they look into your eyes?

To prioritize the value of the senses is inappropriate, I think, as we should rightfully appreciate and respect them all.  Yet it seems to me that sight is precious beyond my ability to express my appreciation for it.  And I do know that multitudes of people who have not the use of this sense have lived full lives and have accomplished much.

I am personally grateful to the medical/surgical community, for my sight has been maintained by multiple surgeries, at least six.  Thanks be to these dedicated physicians, and to the Lord who endowed them with the talent and the drive which placed them in their roles. 

The second word for today is:

fair.
  What a word!  It may be an adjective, an adverb, a verb, or even a noun.

Unfortunately the use I most often hear is an adjectival usage in which the speaker exclaims, "That's not fair!"  Depending upon the speaker and the circumstances I am likely to remark, "Fair is where the 4-H kids go to show their pigs."

It is certainly meet and right, fair, so to speak, to hope for justice.  But often it is the case that life is not "fair."  Thus we must call upon our resolve to do the right thing, regardless of the injustice.  And though it is not a four-letter word, "justice" gets bandied about in strange ways, I think.  For example, in the case of a loss of life due to murder, we often say we want to catch the culprit to "get justice for the victim."  What we really mean is, "We want revenge and the assurance the killer won't strike again," for there is no justice in the case of an unwarranted loss of life. 

 

5 comments:

Lin said...

This got me thinking about words that are used in many ways...but...the words that came to me were the cuss words. I don't know why. It's funny how they can be adjectives, adverbs, verbs, nouns...It's creative language at its best!

It's amazing that they can fix eyes, isn't it? I am glad they have fixed yours.

Grace said...

Ize - my favorite thing - people ize, cat ize - I write about ize and photograph ize - I'm mesmerized by ize.

I'm a Libra so you know the first thing out of my mouth was "That's not fair!" (Almost true in fact - I was told that the first sentence I uttered was 'I don't want to, make John do it' - close.) Justice - a word I don't think I have really thought about - but I agree with your analysis -

vanilla said...

Lin, the idea for this series was in defense of four-letter words since most of them are not cuss words! I am having fun with this, hope you enjoy it

I am happy that my eyes have been repaired.

Grace, ize at a loss to come up with a clever response to your proclivity to suffixize so many things.

Vee said...

We are, indeed, fortunate to have good doctors. All doctoring, unfortunately, is not equal.

I thought of "Errs" for the letter, e, because I misspelled it last week in an online crossword (too many e's) and messed things up. Guess I'm forgetting how to spell the easiest words as I age.

Our parents told us many times. "Stop whining. Life is not fair." And we were not allowed to attend the fair - too worldly for our life-style. What I wanted was to be that fair maiden I read about in books. But, sadly, not.

Two four-letter "f" words came to mind and they go together. Faux frog. I see one every time I go outside. Glad it is not real, however, since it would be large enough to be an attack frog.

vanilla said...

Vee, our faux frog has found a permanent perch, I think, for he is now too heavy for me to move. No, he has not gained weight; I've lost punch.