Words

A word often takes on a connotation, either positive or negative, that is often the opposite of its normal meaning, the meaning that most of us ascribe to it, or that’s in the dictionary. For example, my dad used to tell a wonderful story to me and my brother when we were quite small, and looking back, I’m seeing that most of his stories, which were extremely funny at the time we heard them, as time went on came to have some profound truth behind them. A kid came in from playing outside and his hands were really filthy. His mom admonished him and said, “How could you come into the house with hands that dirty?” The kid looked at his hand with great wonder and said, “But Mom, it’s clean dirt.” And my brother and I would squeal with laughter at how funny that was. I’m not quite sure even now why it was funny, except that we got the meaning of “clean” being the opposite of “dirty.” What a wonderful, profound story that really is, because where did dirt come to have this negative meaning of filth and whatever? Dirt is among the cleanest substances on the planet, or at least it was until we got a hold of it. Good dirt is just teeming with life and it smells good and it feels good, and why in the world would we take something as wonderful as dirt and give it this other meaning?