While browsing online the other day I stumbled upon an interview with Zooey Deschanel in the new issue of Lucky. In it the famous-for-being-unconventional actress reveals that she hates being referred to as quirky. "It's an annoying word," Deschanel says. "Quirky is like a nice way of saying weird."
As someone who often uses the word quirky to describe my wares on Etsy, I was intrigued by the relationship between it and its shadowy relative, "weird." So I clicked over to to dictionary.com (where I go for all my word nerd needs) to get the scoop. Here's what I found:
quirky - Having or full of quirks. Related words: far-out, kinky, off-beat, way-out
quirk - 1) An individual peculiarity of character; mannerism or foible. 2) An unexpected twist or turn. 3) A continuous groove in an architectural moulding. 4) A flourish, as in handwriting.
weird - 1) Involving or suggesting the supernatural; unearthly or uncanny. 2) Fantastic; bizarre. Synonyms: unnatural, preternatural, eerie, unearthly, uncanny
I was surprised that "weird" didn't have a third, more down-to-earth meaning, such as "(one of these things is) not like the others" a la "Sesame Street," or maybe even "(lime) doesn't fit in. And likes it that way," per a Lifesavers magazine ad circa 2000. Yet dictionary.com firmly roots the popular adjective in the realm of the paranormal. That having been said, I suppose I can see why Zooey may not want to be linked to it via its almost-synonym quirky. But I don't think there's anything wrong with being called quirky in and of itself. There's something kind of charming about having "an individual peculiarity of character," isn't there?
One of my corporate managers at work called me quirky and said I didn't fit the mold. I took offense to this because she totally meant it in a demeaning way. I know that alot of people may nto get my way of going through life. But then again I don't get theirs either. I got voted most unique in High school and I thought that was a nicer way of saying "Most strange chick". haha. I have always used my unique nature to my advantage though.
ReplyDeleteYou can borrow these "Words to Live By" from me if you want: God is great, weird is good, and people are crazy.
ReplyDeleteWow. I think I would've burst into tears if that had happened to me. On the flip side, it must have been a great compliment to be voted "most unique" in high school - even if they did mean "most strange chick." Heck, that's a compliment in and of itself :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sparkle. Truer words were never spoken :)
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