The Use Of Language - Part 2
(Painting by Samuel Bak)"Another word that I very much dislike is the word hate.", the Sudilkover Rebbe told me during my last visit.
He explained that the word hate is too often used in casual conversation when it could easily be replaced with a more refined and softer word. There is no need to say "I hate broccoli", "I hate cleaning the garage", or "I hate waking up early." when you merely are try to convey that you really don't like something. Hatred is the basis for so much evil that we see in the world today and at a minimum we should attempt to uproot this word from our vocabulary.
I told the Rebbe that I did not allow this word in my house and would correct my children whenever they would say it. He responded by telling me that I should allow for one exception to this rule; not to correct them when they speak about the mitzvah to hate Amalek and blot out his name.
3 Comments:
Hate, for what ever reason, is a word I use far too casually. Since marriage, however, I've worked on expunging it from my vocabulary.
My wife is a quite adamant about removal of words such as “hate” from casual vocabulary (as well as “stupid,” “idiot,” “stinks” and “always” among others) – but I am so naturally anti-authority that I don’t really comply as I should.
The truth is that the problem is probably more about casual word use in general. I remember reading that Rav Soloveitchik would get upset at casual use of words. Specifically I recall that he was critical of people that used the word “faith” with regard to people or casual/trivial matters (as in I have faith in so-and-so), when “faith” should be reserved for G-d and it’s true meaning (emunah) in its proper context.
Hate is the opposite of Love and should never be used. It sounds close to murder. Ugly is another gutter word and that's where they should be consigned to.....the gutter.
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