10/24/18 Grif.Net - Synonyms
Robert Griffin
In 1998 when teaching at a college, a young lady who was writing a paper for my class came to me asked, "Dr Bob, what’s the difference between to annoy, anger and exasperate?"
I replied, "It is mostly a matter of degree. Let me show you what I mean."
With that, I went to the telephone and dialed a number at random. To the man who answered the phone, I said, "Hello, is Melvin there?"
The man answered, "There is no one living here named Melvin. Why don't you learn to look up numbers before you dial them?"
"See," I shared with the young lady. "That man was not a bit happy with our call. He was probably very busy with something and we ANNOYED him. Now watch."
I dialed the number again. "Hello, is Melvin there?" I asked.
"Now look here!" came the heated reply. "You just called this number and I told you that there is no Melvin here! You've got a lot of nerve calling again!" The receiver slammed down hard.
Turning to the student I said, "You see, that was ANGER, plain and simple."
"Now I'll show you what EXASPERATE means."
I dialed the same number, and when a violent voice roared, "Hello!" I calmly said, "Hello, this is Melvin. Have there been any calls for me?"
[adapted from “Teaching CAN be Fun”]
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
"Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!"