Neat and Interesting

Two words that jolt my swagger; Neat and Interesting.  I know exactly why, but I'll get to that in a minute.  I didn't want to support the truce of uttering "I'm not sure why I dislike these words..blah,blah".  Okay, so, as recent as I can remember, well, Friday, I had a client tell me this looked "Neat":

Her left eyebrow was lifted and her right eye squinted as she smiled blurting the word.  Now, I'll give it to her, she was only looking at a picture and lets face it, a picture doesn't do something tangible justice.  On another occasion recently I was looked at in a squint with lips pursed and told by a man that an installation of mine was "interesting" and thanked me whole heartedly.  Admittedly, I too have used both words to describe things that I really wasn't either interested in or disliked wholeheartedly.  Thus, the reason I don't like these two words to be used as adjectives towards my work or thoughts.  You know the times you are with someone and you are telling them all about this experience you had and they are nodding and smiling as if they are listening intently to your every word. Then, in response to your story they exclaim "wow, that is so interesting!".  Guess what?  They either weren't listening as intently as it appeared they were and/or they just thought the whole thing was a boring mess.  Would it have been better if they would have said "wow, that was so UN-interesting."?  I use the word "neat" when I need to tidy up.  You know,  keep things neat and organized.   But, much like "interesting", "neat" gets used in place of "gosh darn I really find that unappealing and rather appalling!".   Do you see what I mean? And, how many times have you used these words just because there were no other ways to kindly let someone down without them knowing?

In defense of the "neat" and "interesting" users, perhaps they are being, or at least trying to be gracious and complementary.  They may genuinely feel as those the neatest and most interesting things are just a grasp away and everything to them finds place in each category.  Then again maybe not.  A dead giveaway when someone says either word is their tone.  It usually goes down at the end of the word or stays constant with a contrived inflection at the end.  Practice with me: Neat! (inflect upward at the end)  Interesting! (inflect downward at the end).  Good Job!! Now do it in the mirror and let your face do the talking.  No need to practice.  I have begun to think that its our natural way for which we were born to communicate, um, nicely?

So, be mindful the next time you describe something as "neat" or "interesting" unless of course you are genuinely interested, then, try to find another word like "Wowwzza" or "Shazam!!"