The Meaning of Indifferent

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi.

Hi, who’s this?

My name is Gwen, and I am in Rosalia, Washington.

Hello, Gwen. Welcome to the show. Thanks for calling.

What can we do for you?

So, I have a question about the word indifferent.

So, I’m kind of confused here because I have three different definitions of the word.

Okay.

So, first, there’s my definition, which is not any different. Completely ordinary, like indifferent, like the prefix and the base word.

And then there’s my dad’s definition, which is not caring. I don’t see where that definition came from, but that might just be my vocabulary limits.

And last is my cousin’s definition, which is like in the different, like in the uniques. So I was wondering which definition is correct and where did the word come from? What’s its origin?

Your father’s definition is the one that’s widely accepted. Indifferent is a complicated word, though, because it’s so often used in circumstances where it’s not clear from context what is meant.

And it’s widely misunderstood and widely misused. And so you might even be reading it in published works where the authors haven’t really used it correctly or themselves haven’t really understood what they’re about when they put it in print in the first place.

And so I’m kind of giving you a pass here. But go ahead with your father’s definition and you’ll be okay. It means something like apathetic or having no particular concern or not having a care one way or the other for or against something or not mattering one way or the other, something like that.

It’s like not making a difference.

Not making a difference, yeah.

It doesn’t make any difference to me.

Yeah.

One way or another. It doesn’t really matter.

Mm—

Yeah.

You’re going to be in a good place if you just stick with your father’s definition.

Yeah, so the in there, meaning not, has to do with not really making a difference.

Yeah.

Oh, I see that now.

Got it?

Yeah.

Do you all have conversations in the car about language a lot?

Sometimes, because we listen to your show a lot, so.

Right on.

Nice.

Right on. And how old are you, Gwen?

I’m 10.

Super cool.

We hope you’ll call us again sometime with a question.

I will.

Okay.

Say hi to your dad.

All right.

Take care.

Bye.

So just to be clear, that in prefix, that I-N just means not.

Right.

But it means not different. It doesn’t mean that it isn’t different. It means that it’s not differentiated. It means that there’s no separation between the two sides.

You don’t care if A or B, one or the other.

Right.

We love getting those questions from young folks. They often ask the best ones.

So call us 877-929-9673 or send your emails to words@waywordradio.org.