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Define "Nice".

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TW1ZTY
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08 Oct 2018, 10:34 pm

EzraS wrote:
TW1ZTY wrote:
EzraS wrote:
I think a person can be defied as nice based on their reputation which is based on their overall demeanor. Same goes for someone having the reputation of being an as*hole.

I don't. A sinner can surprise you and so can a saint.

Sometimes people who seem like jerks can reveal that they have a softer side to them and sometimes a person who is well-loved and viewed as a good person by everyone can have moments where they show absolute cruelty.


That's why I said their overall demeanor. No one is 100% nice or 100% jerk. But I think what a person displays the most, is what they are for the most part. Or at least how they are viewed by most for the most part.


And see I still disagree. What a person displays to the world is not always who they really are on the inside. People put up fronts all the time so it's hard to judge a person unless you really know them and grew up with them.

Plus people can change over time.



EzraS
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08 Oct 2018, 11:44 pm

TW1ZTY wrote:
EzraS wrote:
TW1ZTY wrote:
EzraS wrote:
I think a person can be defied as nice based on their reputation which is based on their overall demeanor. Same goes for someone having the reputation of being an as*hole.

I don't. A sinner can surprise you and so can a saint.

Sometimes people who seem like jerks can reveal that they have a softer side to them and sometimes a person who is well-loved and viewed as a good person by everyone can have moments where they show absolute cruelty.


That's why I said their overall demeanor. No one is 100% nice or 100% jerk. But I think what a person displays the most, is what they are for the most part. Or at least how they are viewed by most for the most part.


And see I still disagree. What a person displays to the world is not always who they really are on the inside. People put up fronts all the time so it's hard to judge a person unless you really know them and grew up with them.

Plus people can change over time.


So a person's overall demeanor should be considered irrelevant since there's not an inanimate knowledge of what they are like deep down inside?



TW1ZTY
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09 Oct 2018, 5:51 am

EzraS wrote:
TW1ZTY wrote:
EzraS wrote:
TW1ZTY wrote:
EzraS wrote:
I think a person can be defied as nice based on their reputation which is based on their overall demeanor. Same goes for someone having the reputation of being an as*hole.

I don't. A sinner can surprise you and so can a saint.

Sometimes people who seem like jerks can reveal that they have a softer side to them and sometimes a person who is well-loved and viewed as a good person by everyone can have moments where they show absolute cruelty.


That's why I said their overall demeanor. No one is 100% nice or 100% jerk. But I think what a person displays the most, is what they are for the most part. Or at least how they are viewed by most for the most part.


And see I still disagree. What a person displays to the world is not always who they really are on the inside. People put up fronts all the time so it's hard to judge a person unless you really know them and grew up with them.

Plus people can change over time.


So a person's overall demeanor should be considered irrelevant since there's not an inanimate knowledge of what they are like deep down inside?



Yeah pretty much.

But then again I'm cynical and don't trust anybody.



EzraS
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09 Oct 2018, 6:59 am

TW1ZTY wrote:
EzraS wrote:
TW1ZTY wrote:
EzraS wrote:
TW1ZTY wrote:
EzraS wrote:
I think a person can be defied as nice based on their reputation which is based on their overall demeanor. Same goes for someone having the reputation of being an as*hole.

I don't. A sinner can surprise you and so can a saint.

Sometimes people who seem like jerks can reveal that they have a softer side to them and sometimes a person who is well-loved and viewed as a good person by everyone can have moments where they show absolute cruelty.


That's why I said their overall demeanor. No one is 100% nice or 100% jerk. But I think what a person displays the most, is what they are for the most part. Or at least how they are viewed by most for the most part.


And see I still disagree. What a person displays to the world is not always who they really are on the inside. People put up fronts all the time so it's hard to judge a person unless you really know them and grew up with them.

Plus people can change over time.


So a person's overall demeanor should be considered irrelevant since there's not an inanimate knowledge of what they are like deep down inside?



Yeah pretty much.

But then again I'm cynical and don't trust anybody.


Same here. But I'm not seeing what that has to with thinking someone is nice or a jerk based on what you observe coming out of them.

Is Donald Trump's demeanor irrelevant?



TW1ZTY
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09 Oct 2018, 7:13 am

EzraS wrote:
TW1ZTY wrote:
EzraS wrote:
TW1ZTY wrote:
EzraS wrote:
TW1ZTY wrote:
EzraS wrote:
I think a person can be defied as nice based on their reputation which is based on their overall demeanor. Same goes for someone having the reputation of being an as*hole.

I don't. A sinner can surprise you and so can a saint.

Sometimes people who seem like jerks can reveal that they have a softer side to them and sometimes a person who is well-loved and viewed as a good person by everyone can have moments where they show absolute cruelty.


That's why I said their overall demeanor. No one is 100% nice or 100% jerk. But I think what a person displays the most, is what they are for the most part. Or at least how they are viewed by most for the most part.


And see I still disagree. What a person displays to the world is not always who they really are on the inside. People put up fronts all the time so it's hard to judge a person unless you really know them and grew up with them.

Plus people can change over time.


So a person's overall demeanor should be considered irrelevant since there's not an inanimate knowledge of what they are like deep down inside?



Yeah pretty much.

But then again I'm cynical and don't trust anybody.


Same here. But I'm not seeing what that has to with thinking someone is nice or a jerk based on what you observe coming out of them.

Is Donald Trump's demeanor irrelevant?


Could be. Maybe under all that racism and greed he's really just a big soft teddybear deep down?



TW1ZTY
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09 Oct 2018, 7:17 am

Besides I thought you liked Trump?



EzraS
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09 Oct 2018, 12:56 pm

TW1ZTY wrote:
Besides I thought you liked Trump?


My statement was in regard to how much focus there is on trump's demeanor as being highly significant to many. And I think that they would consider the possibility of him being a big soft teddy bear underneath irrelevant.

The last thing I want to talk about is myself, unless I myself am the subject. However since I keep being brought up by a few, even though I'm not the subject, I will state that I have never said that I like or dislike trump, or that I think he's a good or bad president.

I have actually said very little about trump himself. I have argued about a few things he has said that I believe was misheard or misinterpreted, which has been erroneously interpreted by some as me supporting him, when I'm simply correcting what I believe to be incorrect.

I would do the same regarding anyone regardless of how I feel about them. I would argue that there's no evidence that P.T. Barnum ever said "there's a sucker born every minute", but that doesn't mean I am a P.T. Barnum supporter, or that I'm defending P.T. Barnum or that I like P.T. Barnum.



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09 Oct 2018, 1:04 pm

@EzraS & TW1ZTY:

Hey, guys ... this thread is not about Donald J. Trump ... it's about defining "Nice".

Can you two please start a thread of your own?

Otherwise, I'll have to request a threadlock here.

Thank you.



TW1ZTY
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09 Oct 2018, 1:14 pm

Fine with me. I've already stated how I define a nice person so I no longer have a reason to respond to this topic anymore.



Drake
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09 Oct 2018, 3:45 pm

Being nice is, well, nice. But it isn't always a positive thing. It is possible to be too nice.



TW1ZTY
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09 Oct 2018, 3:47 pm

Drake wrote:
Being nice is, well, nice. But it isn't always a positive thing. It is possible to be too nice.

Yeah especially if you're an enabler.



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09 Oct 2018, 3:57 pm

TW1ZTY wrote:
Drake wrote:
Being nice is, well, nice. But it isn't always a positive thing. It is possible to be too nice.
Yeah especially if you're an enabler.
For the record, an "Enabler" is someone who enables another to persist in self-destructive behavior (such as substance abuse) by providing excuses or by making it possible to avoid the consequences of such behavior; like someone who is constantly bailing a friend or relative out of jail, or who apologizes and pays the bills every time there is an incident of violence or abuse, or who repeatedly gives money to the same homeless person hoping that he or she will buy food and medicine instead of drugs and alcohol.



Drake
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09 Oct 2018, 3:59 pm

TW1ZTY wrote:
Drake wrote:
Being nice is, well, nice. But it isn't always a positive thing. It is possible to be too nice.

Yeah especially if you're an enabler.

Or you can be too nice so people can just ignore you and carry on with what they're doing whether you like it or not, or you can be too nice to say no and end up doing whatever people ask of you...



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09 Oct 2018, 4:53 pm

I already know what an enabler is and yes it is a perfect example of being too nice to somebody.

And Drake your example is true too it means a person is a doormat to be so nice to people that they get walked all over.



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09 Oct 2018, 5:06 pm

Please tell me that this thread is meant as a joke.

Our freshman teacher in English 101 told us to "never use the word 'nice' in our papers, because the word is so vague in meaning" which is good advice for formal expository writing. Doesn't mean you cant use it conversation among a small group because your small group of fellow conversers know the context and know what you mean in the particular context.

Asking for some kind of legal definition of "nice" can only be a put-on.

So....

ARE you putting us all on?



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09 Oct 2018, 5:41 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
...because the word is so vague in meaning...

I find those the most interesting words of all, especially if they're used a lot. The words that never shift from their dictionary semantics, I find much more dull; I can just go look those up. Like "OK" or "Mmm-hmm", "nice" has so many pragmatic shades; I find it interesting to see how it's perceived by people.


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