2026/05/04
Maybe I've been in a bit of a bitter mood lately, but last night I had a thought about the way we use words in a way that's, not dishonest, but it definitely contrasts with what's intuitive to me.
"Interesting" is a word that I've heard a lot. And I even use it constantly.
What exactly is "interesing", though? Something that drives us to engage further? To investigate more on the fact? If so, then I would dare to say most of us don't really use that word like it's meant to be used.
This inference comes from a purely personal observation, of course, I don't believe myself to be smart enough to claim this is a universal experience. Even moreso when I'm rather... socially incapable.
Having said that, I have to say that the majority of times I've heard this word be used, is usually in the context of a conversation where one of the people involved isn't really invested in whatever the other one's saying, or if they are, they're not quite sure what to answer.
And so, "interesting" tuns out to be now a word used as something much more akin to a mere confirmation that the conversation is still going. Something like a greeting. Like when you ask "how are you", to be answered with something like "good"; an exchange that is essentially fruitless, but it's a way to signal the interaction to start...
a... "phatic function", I think they're called?
Because of this "phatic function"... function, I wouldn't say that it's completely vacuous. Even when used whenever there's a lack of a strong opinion, it is signaling something in-between the actual content of the conversation.
If you haven't noticed, I'm an extreme over-thinker. And I was never quite good at social clues.
But it's always interesting to ruminate these subjects.
Such is life.