When I open the site I use to compose these postings I can check page views. I admit to doing that almost every day, call it vanity if you like. When I checked this morning, it had recorded 768 views. I’m amazed, never had that many before, not on this site anyway. My first thought being, it must be AI.

Thinking about the subject matter of that posting yesterday I figured maybe that did prove to be of interest to some. I’m guessing it has to be in the title and the first few sentences. I know that is what attracts me to read something. Yesterday’s title was “brought in.” I thought about that title before choosing it and was concerned folks might think I was talking about immigration. I wasn’t.

I was talking about an expression that was used in my town when I was growing up. When something was “brought in” it meant someone, usually unknown to you, had dropped something off on your doorstep. They were sharing whatever they had an excess of. It was the waste not/want not mentality. The items dropped off where normally something perishable, like fresh fish.

All of that is a matter of semantics. Semantics has become a growing concern, especially on social media. It seems to have also infected every government office. The meaning of words and phrases being changed almost every day. It’s what was said, but that isn’t what was meant! It is something that irritates me to no end.

Slang is different than semantics. The slang meaning will change depending upon the group using that slang term. The meaning is clear among the group. Old fashioned slang words like cool, hip, happening and knarly have gone out of fashion. Each generation develops its’ own slang. Semantics are similar in that fashion but not the same thing.

Like saying someone is “undocumented” instead of saying they are in the country illegally. That’s semantics. Semantics attempt to change the emotional response to language. Also, the purpose of using crude and vulgar language. Create an emotional response. It isn’t about understanding, it is about creating the desired emotional response. Common sense and reason are not a part of that.

Now, I seldom receive any written feedback. I have to look at that as a good thing in the context of social media. By far the majority of comments left on social media are negative. People love to correct, point out “alternative views” contrary to yours and call you names. Create that emotional response.

Yesterday, according to the stats, 768 people opened and viewed my post and not one of them called me any names! There is an old idiom that says; “the silence is deafening.” It means that you are feeling a bit uneasy, uncomfortable, or unsettled because you have not received an expected response. I really don’t expect a response.

Silence is golden. Another old idiom meaning, it is better to say nothing at all. That applies when you have nothing good to say. So, that gives me pause. Has no one anything good to say? I’ll just take those 768 views as a good thing.