Friday it took several minutes of scrolling through the word swarm to find a word of any meaning to me. Today numerous words compete for my interest. I can’t decide among minaret, godspeed, wonder, and interdigitate. Hmm.
I’ll go with “wonder” because, coincidentally, I have lately begun to question the meaning of that word as used virtually everywhere.
“Wonder” appears in all levels of discourse, and is used to raise doubts and ask questions. “I wonder what that means,” a question asked in the form of a statement, is a common usage matched by the first half of the definition “to be curious or in doubt about.” The latter half of that definition is seen in “I wonder if she really meant that.”
I recently started noticing these usages of “wonder,” knowing of course that all modern dictionaries include definitions of “curiosity,” “wanting to know,” and the like.
Webster’s 1828 English Dictionary does not include such directly interrogative meanings for “wonder,” rather describing it as an emotional reaction to mysteries of grandeur defying human comprehension.
Modern definitions of “wonder” granularize these earlier, broader definitions, turning it into an introspective concept of self-interest.
I will not get to the bottom of this today, but my instincts suggest that “I wonder” is weak phraseology. Using “I wonder” to ask a simple question takes a concept of unfathomable mystery and co-opts it in a manner that attempts to elevate the intellectual status of the questioner.
“Wonder” refers to the incomprehensible. Invoking the incomprehensible to pose a simple question subtly attempts to lead the question toward no possible answer; implying disdain or fear of the answer; or even disdain of the person being asked the question.
I wonder what it all means.
