“Interesting blog,” is how my friend started a chat with me this morning.
To which I responded, “I feel a little worried: interesting is one of the most emotional and yet vague words in English; almost always carrying a connotation, but never revealing it.” (proper punctuation added)
The word interesting allows us to say that we clearly have been triggered by something and are definitely feeling something, but we’re not going to tell you what it is that we’re feeling. Almost like when you ask someone, “Wanna know a secret?” and then when they say yes, you say, “Sorry, I can’t tell you, it’s a secret.”
So, what could “interesting blog” mean?
- I feel confused when I read your blog.
- I feel eager to read more of your blog.
- I feel amazed at how connected I felt to your posts.
- I feel completely bored out of my mind and only read the first 10 words.
- I feel unsure why you think people will actually read your blog.
- I feel nervous to say that I was expecting something better.
- etc etc
I frankly have no idea what she was feeling. When I hear “interesting” in person, I have many more clues to guess the underlying feeling of the person, such as intonation, facial expression, posture, cadence, etc. When it is in 2D text on a glowing screen, it kinda feels like trying to solve a crossword puzzle in a language you don’t speak.
I wonder what other words we use in English or other languages to shout “Hey I’m feeling an emotion!” but not actually say what the emotion is. If you know of any words, please share with us in the comments.