Mark Twain said, "A man's character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation." Do you agree? What are?

I agree with Twain on this one (though knowing him, he might have meant it ironically). Of course, words alone don't make the person. But I think you can tell a lot by someone's words if you don't use them to jump to easy assumptions.

Twain's quote reminds me of one by playwright and actor Anna Deavere Smith (who was also Nancy McNally on The West Wing! ): "If you say a word often enough, it becomes you. " Smith said this to describe a project where she interviewed people who experienced or witness traumatic social events (like the violence in LA in1992) and used their language to create a performance; the idea is that people use language to present themselves to the world, and so if you listen carefully, language will tell you a lot.As for Twain, I think adjectives are important because mostly people use adjectives to _evaluate_, to remark on something in a positive or negative light.

So by seeing what adjectives they use to evaluate, you can see what terms they use to measure how good or bad something is. For example, I know someone who mostly thinks in terms of how intelligent people are (she's a lovely person, but has some old-fashioned ideas about this topic). So whenever there's something she doesn't like (a politician on TV, a badly designed and inconvenient parking lot, an infomercial product that is obviously unnecessary), she says, "How can anyone be so stupid?

" or maybe uses the word "idiotic," etc. Because to her, stupidity is to blame, and so she uses that word a lot. I know someone else who uses the word "somewhat" all the time. He also uses "maybe" a lot.

Okay, they're adverbs, but you get the point. He doesn't like committing to one stance, and his words reflect that. Me?

I use awesome, cool, crappy, when I'm with family or friends, but at work I use excellent, challenging, intriguing, etc.What does this say about me? I think it says that I am a bit pretentious but I try hard not to be that way around people I care about. And that I'm naturally kind of blunt but that I try hard not to be so blunt and loud-mouthed at work.

I do not think you can entirely learn about a person's character just by knowing or listening to the adjectives he/she frequently uses to describe things. It might suggest that said person is intelligent and has a large vocabulary, but this does not provide any conclusions on character, behavior, etc. For example, I know this one person who has a great vocabulary and is very smart. However, he is also addicted to cocaine and is drunk almost all the time.

He also has an explosive personality: he can be nice, but he will freak out over minor problems. Conversely, a person can be very bright without having a strong vocabulary. Scientists might not have a strong grasp on grammar or vocabulary terms, but they know more about certain things that most others.

Thus, the way a person speaks can often be misleading. People can draw positive or negative conclusions about a person based on the adjectives they use. But such conclusions can be (and usually are) far from accurate.

Hope I helped; have a great day!

This is one of those silly things that so-called wise men say from time to time. My favorite is the one about " for evil to succeed, all that it necessary is for good men to do nothing," or some such nonsense. Another is the Alpha Male stupidity.

They sound good, but when you examine them for awhile, the foolishness come through. You can not determine a person's character by the adjectives that they use, or their skin color or the way they walk or any other such thing. You can only tell about a person's character from their deeds.

That is why a close examination of their lives will always leave Washington looking much better than Jefferson.

No wise saying is right 100% of the time, it just has to be a useful, generally true but underrated observation. A person's vocabulary provides good clues as to a person's character as does the way the person uses their vocabulary. Adjectives may be more telling than verbs or nouns, perhaps.

I'll have to think about that one. On the other hand, although deeds are certainly important, when you meet someone you probably don't have any way of knowing what their deeds are. Also, even deeds can be misleading if the motivation for them is unexpected.

Haha. Well, Mr. Twain, let's see what you have to say about this woman's character! Some of the adjectives I use regularly: Amazing Phenomenal Bitchin' Unbelievable Gigondor Stinky (hey, I have a two year-old!) Fabulous Hella-cool I guess that either this means that I like to paint a conversational picture that is grandiose and over-the-top....or I have one out-there kind of life.

I'm just noticing that all of my "favorites" are mostly extreme adjectives. There's no boring, blah, dull, vapid. Those are all pretty expressive and emotional adjectives.

Wait! That's me! Expressive and emotional!

Darn, you're unbelievably, gigondorously, fabulously hella cool, Mr. Twain! Cheers.

No. I believe a person's character can be summed up by answering: "What makes you most happy? " Because oftentimes, every move a person makes is based on this philosophy.

Whether it is altruistic, or blatantly selfish. Ah.......... there are some adjectives! Yes, I use them.

Most often exclamations of excitement, such as JOY, WOW, AWESOME, and THAT's GREAT!

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.