One of the joint challenges and joys of being an English as a Second Language teacher lies in describing the meanings of words. English is a complex language, and trying to explain the different meanings of and ways to use various lexical items can be daunting. Why do we say that we put on our clothes and we put up with an annoying person but we put away our things and we put aside our differences? What’s the difference between “I’m sorry for what I did” and “He was a sorry excuse for a coach”?

A critical aspect of this teaching responsibility comes when I have to explain the true meaning of words that native speakers often overuse or use incorrectly. I dealt with this in a recent book club meeting, when the main character realized he hated someone and the author used the character’s thoughts to give a very clear definition of hate. I paused to tell the international student club members about how this was an accurate usage of the word hate, and therefore cautioned them about using it with other people, even in a joking sense.

I was thinking today about a couple more words we use a lot in a very casual manner. One is amazing and the other is awesome. I hear these words used in advertisements, announcements, meetings, and casual conversations. They can now be used to describe everything from movies to hot wings and haircuts to car engines. These things may be entertaining, delicious, intriguing, or impressive. But are they really amazing and awesome?

According to Webster’s Dictionary, amazing means “causing astonishment, great wonder, or surprise.” Awesome means “inspiring awe” and awe means “an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime.” In other words, things that are truly amazing will leave us speechless, feeling small in the face of the noble, the heavenly, the beautiful, or the powerful. (Hot wings are nice, but this is not the feeling I have when I eat them!)

So if everything is awesome or amazing, we should be falling over in shock and wonder, speechless at every turn. Yet, here we are: talking, texting, and face-timing with more repetitive words than ever before about things that are good and nice but not truly extraordinary.  I would like to suggest that we have so watered down what makes us feel amazed and awestruck that we don’t know how to stop and really notice the truly amazing, awesome, wonderful, and exceptional blessings God puts in our lives each day.

That’s what I want to model for my students, even as I answer their questions about English. I want them to hear me use amazing and awesome correctly because I am quietly, wonderingly observing every good gift and powerful deed that comes from the Giver.