Nettie Penman on tue 18 jul 06
Dunno exactly why I needed to respond to this one, BUT. . . . I think that
your friend's reaction was personal and not necessarily universally valid.
It probably depends on the context. In my family when guests were coming for
a meal (usually relatives for a holiday) my mother would say, "Put out the
fine china." Believe me, it wasn't coming from arrogance. That is just what
we called it - fine china. Maybe it's an old-fashioned term and not widely
used anymore. Anybody want to educate me on this? I suppose the fact that we
had a set of porcelain china means to some people that we were privileged.
It never meant that to me. It was just that my mother appreciated beautiful
objects (they satisfied her soul) and she put a priority on having a few
things that meant a lot to her. She compensated in other ways by painting
the entire house herself - inside and out, refinishing the hardwood floors
by hand, and making everything herself that was humanly possible - from
lampshades to rugs to watermelon pickles. And, yes, there are a million ways
to offend people in writing without intending to. I'd say, "thanks for
sharing," and then follow your judgement. To me, using the term "fine" has
certain good connotations and is distinctly more descriptive than
"delicate."
Oh, and BTW - my 84 year old mother is now in an assisted living facility
and she still has the "fine china" all stacked up in a little cupboard.
Never uses it, just likes to have it.
Regards,
Nettie
Nettie Penman
www.architecturalelements.biz
303 828 9463
> Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2006 22:56:51 -0500
> From: Antoinette Badenhorst
> Subject: Communication; the art of language.
>
> I was talking to a close friend about something I am writing. She
> interrupted me: "I want you to change one word in your vocabulary; =
> replace
> fine porcelain with delicate porcelain". I started laughing and asked =
> her
> why? Her answer: the one sound arrogant and the other descriptive.=20
>
> It made me wonder how often we here on Clayart misunderstand each other. =
> How
> well do we think something that we write through and how hard do we =
> really
> try to understand what the other person are trying to say.
>
> It is crucially important for us to understand each other if we want to
> learn from each other. Using words and language that are effective to =
> bring
> over the message the way we mean to say it, is important. With so many =
> words
> out there to choose from, it is easy to say something different from =
> what
> you mean.
>
> It is also important to know and understand the language with which we
> describe our own work, or else we will not be able to sell it.
>
> Thanks to Microsoft word I can at least correct some of the grammar and
> spelling mistakes I make.
>
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