People Overuse The Word Ignorant: It Is Time To Get Out A Thesaurus And Choose Another Word
On the Internet, over the last couple of years there seems to be a proliferation of the word ignorant, and often it is overused. Do you remember in high school when your teacher suggested using a thesaurus to use a new word? Often there are more positive and better words to use as opposed to ignorant, but people keeping coming back to this cliché phrase. I am not asking you to sugar coat your speech and writing, but have you ever considered the impact or lack thereof that your words are making on others. The first few times I heard someone tell another person they were ignorant it came across as if the speaker was on a superiority trip. Am I the only one that is slightly bothered by the banality of using the same word over and over again? I decided to do an Internet search and found some other people feel the word ignorant is used too often. At the end of the day people will use whichever word they feel most comfortable with, but how does calling someone ignorant make you come across? It comes across as if the user of the word ignorant is not a very rational debater and must use emotional words to make their opposition feel inferior. Ironically, many people who misuse the word ignorant are just as educated as the person they are accusing of being "less informed". There seems to be a tendency to call your opponent ignorant to make yourself seem more educated, and this is just very negative. Using the word ignorant once in a while conveys its true meaning, but in today's cyber world the word ignorant is often a trite way of someone telling their adversary "I am better than you".
Yes, the definition of the word ignorant means less informed or lacking knowledge, but why not try using a more positive or unique word? Next time when debating rather than telling your opposition "they are ignorant," you could try saying:
1. You seem to be misinformed about this issue.................
2. How do you think other people feel about this issue.....................
3. Try walking in another person's shoes........................
4. You are a highly educated person that I respect, but I feel you could learn more about................
The list goes of alternative words to use, but the important point to keep in mind is we should never put others down with our language. Often times the person you are accusing of being "ignorant" on certain issues could be 110% more informed about issues about which you are clueless. Using more positive words also goes much farther when trying to rationalize with your opponent as people tend to react negatively to the not so positive use of the word ignorant. Yes everyone is ignorant of something, but using this word to the hilt comes across as the lack of using a thesaurus. Just some thoughts I have about the platitudinal use and sometimes abuse of the word ignorant.