“Oooh, I like that!” someone squeals in a department store, at a party, at a concert, at the dinner table—just about anywhere you can think of. But what do they mean when they say they like something? Is liking something the same like as when you like someone? “Oooh, I love your hair!” someone else squeals. Are they having unnatural urges towards your hair? What does love mean? What does like mean? Like the words nice and good, like and love have become overused. Think of what you really are feeling about someone/something and find a specific word to convey your feelings.
Some of the possible choices to replace like and love are:
Enjoy, relish, fancy, prefer, appreciate, savor, treasure, desire, cherish, value, fancy, dote (on or upon), worship, exalt, idolize, revere, venerate, adore, favor, admire, prize, enjoy, esteem, relish, choose, want, care for, sanction, delight in, countenance, hold with, approve, prefer, endorse, am fond of, gravitate towards, be partial to, have a penchant for, have a predilection for, be pleased by, be devoted to, have enthusiasm for, have an inclination towards.
Remember, the words in the list are synonyms for like and love—they are not exact duplicates in meaning. You need to consult a dictionary to find the exact meaning of the words in the list; only in this way will you know whether a particular word can replace like or love in a particular sentence. There are many more possibilities besides the ones in the list—think of what meaning you want and then go searching for a word that gives that meaning.
3 comments:
Lol. Next time I see someone who looks particularly nice, I want to say, "I endorse your hair."
And sometimes we use like when we are trying to be polite and not say what we really want to say. Like when your mil asks how the soup is. You can't exactly say that you're tolerating the soup, so you say you like it. And then you are going to have to tolerate it for years to come. You can't answer either that the soup is okay because then the next question is okay good or okay bad? and you're right back to liking the soup.
At least that's one word that's been overused for centuries. People have been "loving" inanimate objects for centuries and declaring affection for strangers for longer.
Post a Comment