Connotation/Denotation

Connotation and Denotation are very common in life and are very similar to "secret messages" yet however innocent a simple term may be; there could be a whole different meaning into a simple word that could alter a scentence completely. Even though some may be asking what is connotation and denotation by know, connotation and denotation are an essential to the modern language of everyones. The dictionary definition of connotation and denotation are


con·no·ta·tion
–noun
1.the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning: Compare denotation (def. 1).
de·no·ta·tion
–noun
1.the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression, as distinguished from the ideas or meanings associated with it or suggested by it; the association or set of associations that a word usually elicits for most speakers of a language, as distinguished from those elicited for any individual speaker because of personal experience. Compare connotation.

Now some may think that connotation is only used when gosiping or judging someone or something but it can also be used in a harmless or kind way. Some may not even know when they are using connotation. For Example "There's no place like home" the denotation or "normal meaning" for home is just where one lives is there home. Yet the way home is used in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy says it the connotation for home is saying where your heart is or where you feel the most comfortable and where your family is. So by just saying there is no place like home where home would be the denotation the line would make no sense, there's no place like where you live. Where if it was used in that way the original famous line of The Wizard of Oz would not be such a prominite kids movie in America.

Now connotation can also be used in a raunchy way too. For Example a simple line that is used quite often is comparing something to being gay. "Nice backpack, thats so gay." See the actual denotation of gay is
gay
–adjective
1.having or showing a merry, lively mood: gay spirits; gay music.
2.bright or showy: gay colors; gay ornaments.
3.given to or abounding in social or other pleasures: a gay social season.
4.licentious; dissipated; wanton: The baron is a gay old rogue with an eye for the ladies.
homosexual.
-noun
7.a homosexual person, esp. a male.

Now that we're clear about the actual definition of gay, the connotation of "gay" in the very commonly used term (that's gay) is saying that's weird, ugly, or gross e.t.c. But you never hear gay used in a good way like "I love your t-shirt, that's so gay." See now the perplexing thing to me is that if gay was used in it's actual definition it would make utterly no sense. For example in the original scentence "nice backpack, that's so gay" if gay was used in it's actual definition it would hypothetically say " nice backpack, that's so merry or a more used term happy.

So as seen connotation and denotation are used in alot of emelements of our life like movies and commonly used terms but what we never really knew is that alot of times our connotations are very wrong, weird in the way there used, and not concidered in what the actual denotation is.