This post is a very random topic and I’m not really sure what brought my mind to it 😄 I don’t know if it was my thinking about a YouTube video topic or if I was thinking about a past conversation with a friend first. Either way, some words don’t fit fully-realized people all that well and we should stop applying them to humans.
And I’m not saying that we shouldn’t use these words at all – they’re perfectly valid and very real words. I just question how valid they are in relation to fully matured humans when you really think about them. Maybe with some qualifiers (which I’ll explain), but that’s about as far as I’ll logically let these things slide these days.
Also, I want to clarify off the bat that this list does NOT apply to babies or small children. You will find that a lot of these words might get used to definitively describe a new or new-ish life brought into this world, but I also want to note that those new lives aren’t developed at all. They don’t have experiences, ethical leanings, priorities, etc. They aren’t “fully-realized” human beings just yet in this world.
Let’s go.
The Idea of Perfection
Literally, the word Perfect just can’t apply to a human no matter how much we want it to. And you could also toss the word Flawless right in here with this one. Humans aren’t perfect and we’re possessed of many flaws. And while someone can be “near-flawless” or “perfect to you/me” – we all know deep down that they are imperfect and totally flawed (and that’s to be expected).
Saying it plainly: We are not perfect and that’s ok.
This immediately brings the baby thing into mind that I mentioned earlier. When a kid is born – parents, rightfully so, will often refer to their little one as perfect of some word along those lines. They are (in a way) at that point. A little gift born from a physical bond of people — haha — but as they get older, the world kinda’ removes that and adds those flaws as signs of character. Imperfection becomes a standard that none of us can escape.
Conceptually — Does Normal Exist?
I used to have a strong stance on this until I realized that I didn’t like the connotation of words like Normal when what I really meant was “Common”. Yes, those words are synonyms for each other, but that depends on what definition you’re looking for.
If I were to ask you, “What is normal person like?” How would you factually and inarguably respond? Go. I will wait.
And while I’m at it, toss in words like Average, Typical, and Weird.
My thoughts on this now are that if I can’t actually give you a textbook definition of what a normal person is, I’ll just stop using the verbiage and substitute common instead. I say that because normality gets us in trouble. I think my thoughts about Pride Month and sexuality got me on this particular kick. What is normal (when it comes to humans)?
One good mental example I kept running through my head was (we’re all adults): Is the adult who watches porn normal or weird? By definition, they can’t be both. I mean, tons of people watch porn – but there are also many who would consider it abnormal based on their ethical system. So… can we call that normal if huge chunks of society treat it as taboo?
I think you can describe some of our tendencies in term of normal/abnormal. I think our body operations have normal behaviors (for instance, a heart beats and all that). But… I just don’t think I can describe a person as normal or “not normal” these days.
There is also the fact that I haven’t met nearly enough people in my life to make such generalized statements and be ok with them anymore. But that’s just me.
Thinking of little things like that made me add these phrasings to the list of “we shouldn’t be applying these words to people anymore.”
Questions of Morality
The problem presented with whether or not a person is Moral stems from the fact that your ethical system will always make this one subjective vs. objective. Always.
Whether something is Good or Evil will entirely depend on which viewpoint(s) you support in life.
The United States widely considers itself a force for good in the world, but there are definitely those who would look at the nation and declare its efforts evil, toxic, and imperialistic. Who is right? And can we declare ourselves one of the other? It kind of feels like one of those things that’s only factual in the eye of the beholder.
Bringing it in more to a fictional human level, is the man who does bad deeds so his family can endure hard times (think the person who steals bread or medicine in some scenario where they have no money, but they have kids or a sick relative) good or evil?
I say fictional, but… this really happens…
That was from 2019, but you can find more stories along those lines if you feel like poking around the internet for it.
No One is Worthless
The word Worthless gets a spot on this list, without question, because you’ll come across people who genuinely feel worthless at times. You will also see people referred to as worthless sometimes (maybe an angry person is calling them that or something). But, I don’t really think anyone can be worthless.
Call me optimistic or old-fashioned, but I think everyone means something to someone else in this world. We all have families at one point or another. And hell, even strangers will go to bat for others that they’ve never met at times depending on the situation, so “worthless” just feels like a stretch to me.
I think it says more about the person calling someone “worthless” than it does about the target of the word. And I think people who feel worthless are just overtaken by the moment and not thinking clearly.
This Last One Feels Impossible
I think it’s impossible for a person to be Unbiased. As far as bias goes – we carry that with us everywhere.
We can make unbiased decisions, sure. Our actions can be taken without bias. Yes. But humans can’t truly BE unbiased.
Trust me, you have an opinion or ethical leaning about EVERYTHING that comes your way based on the experiences that shaped you as a person, you just may not choose to share it or let it impact your actions (but it’s still there).
Words to Stop Using Toward People
- Perfect
- Flawless
- Normal
- Average
- Typical
- Weird
- Moral
- Good
- Evil
- Worthless
- Unbiased
At this point in the list, I was reaching a bit (for instance, I almost added the word “Innocent”) – so I just closed the books. As I said at the start of this, I think children can possess a lot of these traits (haha – I’m not calling anyone’s kid “worthless” – but most of us were pretty worthless as children 🤣). But, they’re kids. They aren’t “real people” yet – LOL! Maybe I’m wrong, either way – it was a fun thing to muse about for a bit.
If you had to add any words to this list, what would you add? Let me know in the comment section below if you’re feeling it.
Peace, and thanks for reading.
The soundtrack for this post provided by…
Image Credits:
– Cover Image © Prostock-studio (Shutterstock)
– Body Image 1 © Iryna Kalamurza (Shutterstock)
– Body Image 2 © Borsuk Renat (Shutterstock)
– Body Image 3 © Olga Ganovicheva (Shutterstock)
– Body Image 4 © igor kisselev (Shutterstock)