First, a Short Story
“Don’t forget, the paper explaining your art project is due tomorrow.” My tenth-grade art teacher waved us out of the room.
Oh, no. The assignment had slipped my mind.
I’d painted my art project–a plaster cast of my face–various shades of purple with zero forethought, except:
1. I liked purple.
2. I couldn’t get the eyes to look right, so I painted purple glitter eyeshadow on the now-closed lids and pasted a crystal tear on the lavender cheek (because it was pretty).
Frantic, I concocted four pages of absolute malarkey.
“Her eyes are closed because she is averse to seeing pain in the world.”
“The tear is for all the children who should be saying no to drugs.”
When she handed back our papers the following week, I stared at the number inked large in the corner of the page.
That frizzlefrazzle teacher removed five points for my use of the word “averse.”
(Quick note to teachers: pull out the Merriam-Webster before you declare a word doesn’t exist.)
Did I march that paper straight to my English teacher?
You bet your sweet TrapperKeeper.
I can still taste the sweet triumph of ultimate vindication, via a note from my English teacher.
(The art teacher graciously adjusted my grade.)
Why share this story?
I read a recent article suggesting we retain certain strong impressions because those memories say something about who we are today.
Maybe I still celebrate those regained five points because I love language and etymology and definitions.
Yeah, okay. Also because I like to be right.
Which brings me to our words for the day (so you can also be right if someone takes five points off your paper):
Let’s talk about the difference between adverse and averse.
Adverse
(adjective, with a D) typically describes a THING that is opposing or opposite {adverse comments, adverse situation, adverse weather}. Think “adversarial.”
Averse
(also an adjective, no D) describes a personal FEELING of opposition or dislike {I am averse to sudden loud noises. She is not averse to having chocolate after dinner.}
But, wait, unless we can find a way to keep them separated in our heads, we’ll just mix them up.
Super-mnemonic saves the day again!
A mnemonic story to help you remember adverse/averse:
Once upon a time, a prince loved a fair frog, so he purchased an ad in the local paper to publish a verse of poetry about her beauty.
The fair frog saw the ad and texted the prince:
“I am not averse to a verse of well-written poetry, but you wrote an adverse ad verse. Thanks, but no thanks. Have a nice life.”
Yes, I made that up. You’re welcome.
Remember: Averse is a feeling. Adverse describes a noun.
