Everyone knows these song lyrics about Santa Coming to Town:
He’s making a list
He’s checking it twice
He’s going to find out
Who’s naughty and nice
But nice hasn’t always been so nice. In addition, it’s a pariah to lovers of language. I clearly recall walking into a classroom of one of my favorite teachers as she was telling her middle-schoolers, “Don’t use the word nice in your writing. It is overworked, tired and non-specific.”
So here’s my nice lowdown on nice. The word originally came from the Latin nescius meaning ignorant or unaware. In the 12th century, the French turned the meaning of nice into foolish, careless, clumsy, weak or stupid. By the 14th century nice morphed into meaning fussy and fastidious. In the 18th century nice meant agreeable or delightful. It finally reached its current meaning of good or kind in the 19th century. Santa did not have its original meanings in mind when making his list.
So if you want Santa to leave lots of goodies under your tree, forget about being nice. Try kind, warm-hearted, generous, caring, unselfish, empathetic or considerate instead.
Fun to read in such a time when the frenetic winds of the season can easily sweep us away.
Yes, we are making a serious effort to slow down and enjoy the lovely things this season can bring. But we all have to make our own magic and that takes a bit of work.
Good research. I certainly will not say it was “nice” research.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Let’s hope we can all navigate through the New Year…it won’t be calm!
I do recall reading? hearing? the part about the Latin roots.