A young listener once asked if there was a single word for “a combination of being nervous but also excited” about something. Listeners offered several of their own coinages, including nervouscited. Another helpful term along these lines might be eustress, which is defined as “a positive emotional response to a stressor.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Eustress, a Positive Emotional Response to Stress”
Grant, you remember years ago we got a call from a kid who wanted to know a word for a combination of nervousness and excitement, you know, like before the first day of school.
And I think he came up with nervous-cited, which I actually liked a whole lot.
Yeah, I remember.
The other day I came across a word that might be related.
It’s eustress.
That’s E-U-S-T-R-E-S-S, eustress.
And the OED defines it as positive mental or emotional response to a stressor, typically manifesting an increased motivation, excitement, or happiness.
I wonder if that could be related.
That’s interesting.
Yeah, that’s actually a really useful word, eustress.
So it’s a positive reaction to negative stress?
Yeah, yeah.
I think maybe like motivation or something like that.
You know, stress that.
In the face of adversity, you shine.
Yes.
Yes.
You make use of your stress.
But of course, it’s E-U meaning good.
Right.
Not connected.
When you’re reading, you might take notes of the cool words that you find and didn’t know.
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