Just a few minutes ago a received an e-mail from a friend about a gathering we're planning in late February, asking if it was OK if another friend of the group joins us that evening. Without hesitation I replied that person was more than welcome to join us.
And as I sit here I'm wondering...what does "more than welcome" even mean?
I typed it automatically as I wanted to convey that person is welcomed to join us. But "more than welcome"? And exactly at what state does someone move from just being plain old "welcome" to "more than welcome"? Are some friends just "welcome" and others "more than welcome"? And how much more?
I know what "less than welcome" means: you're not invited.
But "more than welcome"? I guess I'll have to work on that.
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My previous post got a lot of talk on a couple of the message board forums I post on about which is better: older music or newer music. And it was the younger crowd that was the most vocal, saying "their music" was much better than what was put out before.
Being the voice of reason...(OK, I'll pause for a few seconds while you stop laughing)...To me it's not a question of better or worse, it's just that music evolves from one period to the next. And sometimes that evolution passes you by, moving in directions your personal tastes dislike.
One dim bulb mentioned that a group like The Beatles would never be able to make it in music today. Well, that's probably true, except for the fact that music is where it is today because of groups like The Beatles. When it comes to things artistic, what came before influences what comes after. Some things are crap and are usually quickly forgotten, while others stand out and influence the works of artists forever.
I'm just waiting for some group to claim Culture Club as their primary influence...
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I think if you say someone is "welcome" to attend, you're saying that if they show up, you'll let them in the door and be happy to have them. At the same time, you won't really miss them if they don't show up.
ReplyDeleteIf you say someone is "MORE than welcome," then I think you are saying you actually ENCOURAGE them to come. You might go so far as to say it would be MORE fun if they DO come, so by saying they are "more than welcome" I think you're really ASKING them to come, not just saying that they will be allowed to enter the gathering if they so desire.
Does that make sense?
I agree with Blunoz. "Welcome" often means "we'll let you in without complaining," but sometimes it stops at that. It may be playing fast & loose with the definition, but... there it is.
ReplyDeleteNow, for the other thing: Sometimes it's difficult to see someone 's (or something's) influence on what came after if you don't have a sense of the historical perspective, either out of disdain for the past in general ("This is not your father's Oldsmobile!" Right. That still runs!) or ignorance. And by ignorance, I mean something you don't know about, rather than stupidity. When I first heard songs like "Roll Over Beethoven" by The Beatles, I was about 7, so I was "ignorant" of Chuck Berry's version.
Anyway, it's that lack of historical perspective I mentioned that spoke through a young comic fan approximately 20 years ago when he said, "Hey, this Neal Adams guy draws like Mike Zeck!"
Try explaining to someone who's heard Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, and Stevie Ray Vaughn how innovative Robert Johnson was half a century earlier, more or less. Good luck.