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Ever So Pretty Off the Wall Oct. 26, 2006 I was visiting a friend's house recently when I happened to hear an occupant of the residence calling for his pet. Most names of animals are often a bit out of the ordinary, if you ask me. This was no exception. "Here Pretty Prettyhere Pretty Pretty," the fellow spoke aloud calling his feline. I started to wonder what would ever possess anyone to call his pet a double name. If the thing (sorry cat lovers) is pretty, why not just call it that? When I grew up "Spot" was a character from a well-known book, "Dick & Jane." The words in the story were "See Spot run." Would either of the two ever think of calling their dog Spot Spot? Don't think so Maybe it all has to do with the use of adjectives versus nouns. Could it be that by saying an adjective twice, it makes it double the value? In my teen years back in the 50's, one of my favorite songs was called "Daddy Cool." If we were part of the gang, doing what Daddy recommended, we classified ourselves as being pretty cool. We were definitely doing what it took to be classy and not square. It had nothing to do as being pleasing or attractive as the word may imply, but a connotation someone had devised that put us in a group that was full of pizzazz. But our society has taken the word "pretty" and applied it to other usages. To a foreigner, that may be very confusing. We speak of the weather as being pretty cool/warm or pretty cold/hot. But a nice looking young lady is also considered pretty hot. Taking into the consideration that pretty means pleasing or attractive, then it is easy to understand how someone or something could be pretty neat. But when someone is pretty bad, how can that be attractive? Making a pretty bad remark actually demeans something or someone rather than doing just the opposite, right? "Did you hear about that accident last night? It was pretty awful?" How can something be pretty in one respect and awful in another? Sorry, but it doesn't go hand in hand. How about ugly? "Boy, it is a pretty ugly animal!?" Either it is pretty or ugly. I'm sorry, it can't be both. I knew someone who I thought was pretty amazing. I thought she was gifted, attractive and great to be with concerning sharing common interests. In the course of my life, I have known some pretty stupid people. The description fit them to a tee. On the other hand, I have known some not-so-attractive individuals whom have also made some poor decisions in life. Some people who come into my studio and have their photos taken for passports are pretty vain. They insist on me taking the photo once again at my expense because they tell me I have done a lousy job portraying them in the identification snapshot. Incidents described as pretty bizarre might be attractive for the Sherlock Holmes types. These patterns of behavior might be issues that attract the skilled detectives. Along the same line of thinking would be those whom are intrigued by pretty gruesome details. Morticians fall under this category. Then there are those who get some kind of high on being pretty vulgar. They think it is great to be that way. I think it's sickening and offensive. It is definitely not pleasing to listen to that garbage or attractive one little least bit. There are moments in life that can be pretty scary. Sliding down a hill in your car on ice is anything but a pleasure trip, believe me. Having a bad dream is another example. Living a life of uncertainty where you don't know where the next morsel of food is coming from or how you are going to meet your bills must be frightening. And consider those whom are destitute. Many of us have no idea what it means to be pretty poor or pretty lonely or both. Certainly these conditions are not attractive, nor are they ever so pretty. Instead, we are blessed. May we always be mindful of that.
Paul j. volkmann 3-20-06 |
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