This is Odd

I've been thinking about the word "odd" lately. Not only because people insist on applying it to me, but also because I use it a fair bit myself.

I'll often see something and say "that's odd", or become aware of a piece of information and summarily declare that it is "odd".

Most of the time I use this word as a synonym for "weird", which it has come to be. But it does have another meaning. Something that is "odd" can be "singular", as in, "one-of-a-kind".

I was going through another one of my "literal language"* kicks the other day, when I went to call something "odd" on reflex. I stopped myself, wondering whether I could literally call it "odd", when it wasn't weird, just unusual. Then I realised it was "odd", because it was singular - an event that was unlikely to have happened before or happen again in the same manner.

I started feeling quite pleased with this revelation - that the word "odd" is a way of describing something unique, something which is unlikely to be duplicated or surrounded by other things just like it. We are all "odd" in our own little way, and it is something to be celebrated.

I've decided that I'm quite taken with the word "odd" and all it implies. Such a simple word - so elegant in it's construction, an with such an appealing array of meanings. Definitely kinder than "weird", and somehow more classy, I could quite happily be called "odd" any day of the week (and I probably am).

The word "weird" is a strange one. Technically, one of its definitions actually is "odd", as in "out of the ordinary course, strange, unusual; hence, odd, fantastic" (OED). However, it also applies to things "partaking of or suggestive of the supernatural; of a mysterious or unearthly character; unaccountably or uncomfortably strange; uncanny" (also OED). So it's kind of like "odd" only with a "we don't like your kind around here, stranger" sort of feel to it. It's been loosing that meaning over the years. Everything slides towards neutral.

"Weird" kind of half-equals "scary" (which I've been called more than thrice), while "odd" is closer to "eccentric" (which I've been called at least once). Both really mean "not like me, or what I would expect", when you think about it. Coming from that perspective, almost everyone and/or everything in the world is "weird" or "odd".

Welcome to my world, weirdos.

*Take the Literal Language Challenge: For as long as possible, you are not allowed to use any words you don't literally mean. For example, an inanimate object cannot be stupid unless it could also be intelligent. So the "stupid door" is not stupid at all, merely inconvenient. Also, anyone using the 'F' word as every second adjective might want to reconsider the implications...