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Ask for help > Vocabulary question...again
Vocabulary question...again
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magneto
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Vocabulary question...again
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Hi everyone!
Hope you �re all doing well.
Can anyone tell me if there is any slight difference in meaning between idleness and indolence?
I �ve found the sentence that follows in a text and my students are bound to ask me why two words that both mean laziness are used in separate clauses, instead of being used in a single clause...They always ask about these details : Idleness is the ideal of genius, and indolence the virtue of the Romantic.
Thank you in advance for your replies!
Have a great day/ evening!
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15 May 2011
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anitarobi
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Interesting point! Check this out: http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/idleness and http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/indolence?show=0&t=1305480461 ... So your students will definitely be right in asking about the difference. Indolence, as a romantic notion, seems to be enjoying yourself while doing nothing useful, despite the fact that you are able to do great things (dolce far niente). Idleness seems to be almost the same - avoiding work or action, but seems to lack the joyful factor. Although, the statement you offer may just be a play on words - they may simply refer to exactly the same thing, only named differently and approached differently in these different areas of human life, meaning both the Romantics and geniuses yearn to be lazy, but for the Romantics this type of inactivity is joy, whereas for a genius it is an ideal to aspire to. If I had to picture the difference, I would picture the idle genius such as Einstein locked away in his room, just watching through the window, doing nothing useful for others till a genius idea comes along, a bit grumpy, isolated and willful. For indolence, I would picture a poet lying beneath a tree, eating an apple and day-dreaming of coulds, butterflies and existence.... Not much help though, because the words really are such close synonyms. |
15 May 2011
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yanogator
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I think of idleness as a state/condition/situation, and indolence as a character trait, so they are very different to me. Idleness is doing nothing, which could change at any moment. Indolence is laziness, which could be exhibited or not at any given time. An idle person isn �t necessarily lazy, and a lazy person isn �t necessarily idle. I hope this hasn �t confused things too much. magneto, I definitely understand your frustration, but it �s those teeny-weeny little details that make me love my language all the more. Bruce |
15 May 2011
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yanogator
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Knowing that there are differences doesn �t necessarily make it easy to explain them to students. When I would occasionally have advanced students, I loved teaching them the tiny differences. "Make" and "do" are the same word in some other languages, so teaching the differences between them can be very difficult. I would also try to teach "land", "ground", "earth" and "dirt", which isn �t very easy sometimes. Tomorrow morning I �m teaching Algebra, which is a totally different challenge! Bruce |
15 May 2011
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Jayho
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I�m with Bruce
When someone is idle they are just doing absolutley nothing. They might just be sitting on the sofa gazing at the TV or hanging around you when there is nothing better to do. It�s not necessarily being lazy but it could be out of boredom or the exact opposite of this by having some time-out from a busy schedule such as enjoying a pleasurable moment sitting idly in the sun taking in the warmth of the rays. However, when someone is �bone idle� then they are lazy.
Indolence is different - they are prone to laziness and avoid anything involving energy - they sit on the sofa gazing at the TV while you vacuum around them. They are unlikely to be hanging around you in fear of being given something to do. Sitting idly in the sun is a regular activity to avoid activities requiring exertion. When I was growing up one of my brothers spent most his teenage years lying on his bed avoiding chores and homework. The classic was always going to the toilet when it was time to do the dishes. That was indolence.
Cheers
Jayho
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16 May 2011
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magneto
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Thank you all for your replies!
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16 May 2011
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