Lany Freelove Cassandra Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 I didn’t want to bog the other thread down (further) with a purely pedantic exercise, so I started this one. Needless to say, I am greatly bothered by the idea that a “hope” and an “expectation” can be used interchangeably. While the words might be listed as synonyms, they are such, in only the very broadest definition of the word: they have a “similar” meaning, at least as far as their definitions are concerned. Hope – a wish for the future Expectation – a belief about the future However, they fail the other requirements for synonyms – 1) they cannot be used interchangeably without changing the meaning and/or the tone of the sentence ; 2) switching them can cause syntax errors in some instances. I’ll start with some simple ones, book/movie titles: Star Wars: A New Expectation Great Hopes (which made me think of the next one) The Great White Expectation – seems rather appropriate Consider these two scenarios and tell me if the two sentences after them have the same meaning. I am of the belief that they most definitely do not. #1) A guy and a gal, who are just friends, are going to travel together and share a hotel room. The guys says to a male friend: “I hope she has sex with me.” or “I expect her to have sex with me.” (this is what I meant by a syntax error “I expect she has sex with me” is not correct grammar, but with “will have” instead of “has” can be found in colloquial usage for “believe” as in “Do you think it will rain tomorrow?” “I expect it will” - even here, just because he expects it will, doesn't mean he hopes that it will) #2) Kid enters middle school and mom lays out a new set of rules: 1. Do not bring any illegal drugs into this house. 2. Blah blah blah and so on. At the end she says: “I hope you follow these rules.” or “I expect you to follow these rules.” The difference in these examples should be quite obvious: the expectations carry with them an implied threat. I know I might over think things a bit sometimes, so I asked my 15 yr old son** first thing this morning while he was still in the mono-syllable grunting mode what he thought the difference was between the two sentences of the second scenario was and he said something that surprised me at first as I hadn’t actually thought of: “The second one is a command” then he added “and a threat.” I hadn’t actually thought of the “command” aspect of expectations (I think mainly because I was thinking in terms of equals, not in terms of power imbalances) but he is absolutely correct: an expectation of a person who has some sort of power over you, is a command. To sum it up in simple terms: a hope is a wish, light and airy like a dandelion puff; an expectation carries an implied threat if the expectation is not met, and in the case of power imbalances can be seen as a command. Discuss. (lol, I always hated that) **my son, much to my great disappointment, is not very intellectually inclined (not dumb, just not interested in learning for its own sake) – so it’s not like he’s one of those kids taking college courses in high school or something, he's not even in college prep courses, a B/C student when he tries a little He does have a lot of common sense---when I explained the nature of the discussion, he felt the idea of having an expectation of sex because you found someone attractive "stupid" and "likely to get [one's] ass kicked" for it. He also thought the "men's rights movement" was the stupidest thing he had ever heard. I love that kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueMetis Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Quote However, they fail the other requirements for synonyms – 1) they cannot be used interchangeably without changing the meaning and/or the tone of the sentence I wasn't aware this was a requirement for something to be a synonym. Indeed one of my English professors advised against using a thesaurus specifically because synonyms can have very different connotations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lany Freelove Cassandra Posted November 21, 2017 Author Share Posted November 21, 2017 7 minutes ago, TrueMetis said: I wasn't aware this was a requirement for something to be a synonym. Indeed one of my English professors advised against using a thesaurus specifically because synonyms can have very different connotations. It might not be, but many people assume that they are just interchangeable, which started the whole thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 31 minutes ago, Lany Freelove Cassandra said: It might not be, but many people assume that they are just interchangeable, which started the whole thing A friend of mine in Law School once claimed that there are no true synonyms. I'm inclined to agree. While definitions may be close usage and context greatly affect the interchangibility of words. Just because two words have similar definitions it does not necessarily follow that the connotations those two words hold will be coextensive. To think of it another way the circle representing the definition of the word "hope" will never fully overlap the circle representing the definition of the word "expectation". As such they are not truly synonymus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drawkcabi Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Hope for the best. Expect the worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckwheat Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Using a thesaurus or a synonym dictionary is useful to point you towards words you have not thought of, or when you know there is a similar word to the one you have in mind but cannot quite remember it. But one should not think of everything listed there as a 100 % synonym. 100 % synonyms are very few, if any - almost every pair of words, even if they seem similar, will have at least slightly different connotation, context in which it is used, whatever. And no, hope and expectation are not synonyms not even by a far, if this non-native speaker's word is worth anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maarsen Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Synonyms are the fount of humour. If the aim is to be exact and precise then use the proper word. If you want to be funny then use synonyms as the basis for humour is not accuracy but being slightly off in your choice of words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalbear Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 3 hours ago, drawkcabi said: Hope for the best. Expect the worst. Yeah, that's what I thought too. Clearly they aren't even close to synonyms in that usage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 2 hours ago, maarsen said: Synonyms are the fount of humour. If the aim is to be exact and precise then use the proper word. If you want to be funny then use synonyms as the basis for humour is not accuracy but being slightly off in your choice of words. Take the chode less traveled, so to speak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maarsen Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 4 hours ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said: Take the chode less traveled, so to speak. The Chode abides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 We've hit the motherchode, people. I apologise for what I did to that topic and, apparently, this one. Anyway, yeah, while I did understand the term synonymous to need words to be a lot more alike than they actually need to be, and therefore by both denoting a kind of anticipation hope and expectation might qualify, there are obviously no situations where they are interchangable. It should be noted that expectation isn't always a threat or command, because it can denote the thought that something probably will happen rather than the conviction that it should, in both cases in the context of the discussion it'd engender a whole different attitude to a hope of the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 5 minutes ago, polishgenius said: We've hit the motherchode, people. I apologise for what I did to that topic and, apparently, this one. Don't apologize, it is the perfect nickname for that poster. Motherchode should be his username. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpg.022a4ba4f4aa53526e0290eedde6f808.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.