Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Only English

I was pondering how wonderful the English language was earlier today, and I was amazed at how many ways there are to express laziness. There's a sense of contradiction in this fact. Since laziness implies a lack of effort or activity, why is it that so much effort has been exerted to describe it? In case you doubt, here is a quick list of words that connote or denote laziness in one form or another: (Feel free to suggest any others you might think of)
1. lazy (obviously)
2. indolent
3. lethargic
4. inert
5. sluggish
6. inactive

Admittedly, some of those may be a stretch, but my own indolence hinders me from considering it more now.

4 comments:

Prince of Spades said...

Slothful, and one of my favorite words: torpid.

Mr. Pi Thetahead said...

Yes! I love it!

B. D. Mooneyham said...

I think apathetic works as well, especially for mental laziness.



P.S. When snow and ice begin to melt on a warm day (like today), which melts first: the snow on top, closest to the warm sunlight, or the snow on the bottom, closest to the (relatively) warm earth?

Mr. Pi Thetahead said...

Apathetic definitely works!
Although I'm not 100% sure, I would guess that the snow closest to the top melts first due to the sun's rays. The snow on the bottom has already effectively cooled the ground below it, unless, of course, the ground on either side is heated by the sun.