Words and Their Meaning
Pedophile, racist, sexist, narcissist….how often do you come across these words in conversations especially on social media platforms.
I don’t like clichés. It is not because they are not true but it is because they are often misused by people who have no clue or understanding of what they mean . What I, therefore, dislike are not the clichés in themselves but the fact that they are always misused and these clichés finally get to lose their meaning. The same applies to popular expressions like chauvinist, narcissist etc.
That said, I often hear people throw words like racist, sexist etc. around and it is quite disturbing especially when it is misused. For example, I have met and heard of really selfish people who would never sacrifice anything for anyone. To make matters worse, these people even expect others to make all the sacrifices for them. I have heard of users and manipulators who use people as a means to an end and they discard these people once they get what they want. Are they narcissistic? No. Do they have some common traits with narcissist? Yes! But that does not make them narcissistic. You can call them selfish or even terrible humans but they are not narcissists.
Narcissism is a psychological condition- a personality disorder. Narcissism can also mean being egoistic. However, for a lot of people, a nasty and terribly behaved individual is a narcissist. So you are likely to hear that girl refer to her ex boyfriend as a narcissist just because he was a very selfish and controlling person. Guess other people who have the tendency to be controlling! Cholerics!
Another misused word is ‘chauvinism’. Someone who does not identify as a feminist is not a chauvinist. When used in the context of gender, a chauvinist can be a male or a female who believes one gender is superior to the other gender. Another interesting fact is that a chauvinist can be someone who is excessively patriotic or someone who is unduly partial to a group they belong to.
A sexist is not that guy that did not support your argument or side with the lady in an argument even if you think the lady is right. I know you really believe you are right and you think the guy has refused to see your point because you are a woman. As long as his argument is based on facts/or and not on gender, he is not a sexist. A sexist is a person who discriminates based on gender. Kindly note that a woman can also be a sexist.
The 30-something-year-old man who is in love with a 19-year- old is not a pedophile. I know you think the age bracket is too wide and the man wants to take advantage of her. But the truth remains that he is not a pedophile. A pedophile is someone who derives pleasure from using children as sexual objects. A 19-year-old is an adult and cannot be considered a child in any way.
Why is this important? It is important because when you misuse these words they gradually lose their meaning. When they lose their meaning, they have no effect after a while. Narcissism will gradually become a normal thing because. a lot of people are selfish; everyone who does not support a woman in an argument will be a sexist; anybody who has refused to identify as a feminist suddenly becomes a chauvinist. These words gradually lose their potency and strength because they have been used wrongly too many times. You cannot place an older adult who is in love with a younger adult on the same level as an adult who likes to have sex with children. This is what you do each time you misuse these words. You make the act seem less evil because the words have lost their severity.
