Handicap - Essay Example

Yuhang Zhang WAC 107 Emily April 4. Handicap Speaking, listening and writing are the basic ability for every human being. English, as the world’s common language, has been developed and improved for thousands of years. It contains countless vocabularies and phrases. The fluency with which you can speak this language depends on how well you can understand the meanings of words and phrases and so as to use them flexibly. As college students, we have a bunch of readings to do. In order to understand the central idea of those writings better, we need to have a comprehensive understanding of all the words that appear in the reading. The word “handicap” sounds really cruel for me because it always reminds me of the bad things that happened to my best friend. Handicaps will remind people of grief, make people become more mature and push people to go forward. According to Macmillan Dictionary, the word “handicap” has the following 4 meanings. Firstly, Macmillan Dictionary defines handicap as “a physical or mental injury or illness that is severe and permanent.” It is currently being regarded as an offensive word and used to say that someone has a physical disability. For example, if we name the people with psychological or mental handicap, they will definitely be unhappy and self-abased because no one wants others to call him or her a person that can do nothing. The meaning of this word according to Macmillan Dictionary is that it is “a disadvantage that prevents you from doing something well.” There are some phrases that we can use when we want to express this meaning, such as “handicap of” or “handicap to”. We can use the word in this way: “His criminal record could be a handicap to his future career.” Moreover, it is also has a different meaning in golf where it means additional shots granted to a weaker player so that a fair competition is achieved. The number of extra shots allowed reduces as a player makes improvements in the game. The last meaning of handicap that is written down on the Macmillan Dictionary is that it is a horse race where fairness in the competition is achieved by attaching extra weights to the saddles of stronger riders. Handicap is a bad word for me, especially when used in reference to physical disability. Take me as an example, this word always make me to evoke harsh memories because of its physical disability meaning. I always remember what happened to one of my best friends who played with me for 14 years. We used to live in the same community and always played together when we were little children. He always wore a smile on his face every day. We had a lot of fun. However, this did not last for a long time. One day, I went to his home and wanted to play basketball with him, but there was no one at home. I called him, but no one answered. Day after day, I tried reaching him in vain. I felt something was not right. I asked my mother, but she asked me not to go meet with him anymore. I was wondering, so I went to his home after two months because I could not wait for his phone call or text anymore. The door finally opened after knocking it so many times. It was his mother who opened the door. She looked thinner and more pallid. I asked his mother where he was, but she did not answer me. She only stepped away. I saw he was lying on the sofa and staring at the roof. I was shocked and could not speak a word. Then, his mother told me he was hit by a car and the car ran over his left leg. I suddenly realised we could never have the chance to run together. Since then, I seldom see the smile on his face. Life is not fair, if there is God, why did he choose to ruin my friend’s dream? I really wish we could go back to the time before he suffered the accident, but I know it will never happen. This word gives me a feeling that it is an offensive word, because it will remind my grief. Handicap can be also given positive meaning, and we can see it during our daily life very often. For an instance, the disabled sign. It is the mark with a man sitting on a wheelchair with a blue background that we can see it everywhere. It expresses the information that the person has physical handicap. The purpose of posting this sign is reminding us to be more polite to disabled, and help them as possible as we can. It also lets them to know there are facilities to make their life easier like the access for disabled, disabled seats, disabled toilets. Handicap’s golf-meaning is the same from what I looked up on the Macmillan Dictionary. However, handicap is not referring to disabled anymore. After I searched on the Internet, I have found this word used to refer to those people who have physical or other disability, but as being regarded as a offensive word, it was replaced by the word “disabled”. Handicap is an “old-fashioned” word to refer to people with disabilities (Macmillan Dictionary 1). But, the common usage of handicap for me is still the same as the meaning of disabled, this is the most different thing between my experience and the example that I found. The only one similarity between the usage in my experience and the usage for USGA Handicap System is the first is the old-fashioned usage and the second one is widely known for the public. The word handicap can also be a motivation factor for physically challenged people to push forward and achieve their dreams just like normal people. For example, a person who loathes the word handicap because of its relation to the idea that he or she cannot do anything meaningful will always try to their level best to prove to others that physical disability is not the same thing with inability. However, people with disability need massive support to achieve their dreams and live their lives to the fullest like their normal counterparts. As a conclusion, definition for “handicap” revolves around people who have physical disabilities like losing a leg. For most people, including me, handicap is not a word that makes us feel comfortable. This is the reason why it is usually replaced by another word “disabled” to refer to those people who have disabilities. The art of language is being reflected in every aspect during our life, irrespective of whether you are giving a speech, writing an essay, chatting with others or trying to persuade others. Words need to be carefully selected and used correctly, or it may cause conflicts. However, before we react when we hear words that make us feel comfortable, we need to think about other meaning of the word and the context in which they are used. For the students, we still have a long way to go in exploring the art of words. Work Cited: Handicap. Web. 17 Mar. 2015. Accessed April 18, 2015 Handicapping. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.Accessed April 18, 2015 Read More