A bit more pondering about why I dislike the phrase I wrote about on Friday…..
I know we can feel `lost`without a person, but that`s not exactly what I`m meaning.
“I`ve lost my cat” (no I`ve never had one and don`t want one!)…. but to hear that phrase would mean to me that it had run off, or gone out and got lost, that people would be out looking for it; that it could be possible to find it.
To me anything that`s said to be lost, means there is a possibility of finding it again.
And so I guess that`s another reason why I find using the phrase “I lost……” about a person who`s died, so wrong, we cannot find them again. We know where their grave is (or ashes scattered), so their physical body isn`t lost. We trust that their spirit lives on through faith.
So, how can they be lost?
1 comment:
I don't think that lost does always have the meaning that we can find something again. When a ship sinks, it's reported as being 'lost at sea'. To lose a football match doesn't mean there's some chance of winning it at a later date.
The word lose has several meanings (as someone else pointed out last time you wrote about this). To lose someone may well involved not having their company, companionship, physical presence - we have suffered the loss of those things.
Now, if we said we'd misplaced them, that would certainly have the meaning you feel - but that's not what we say.
Sorry, I'm still going to use the phrase.
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