Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Pathos or Bathos?

In an earlier blog, “Patios or Pathos? I discussed the difference between the two words. When looking up Pathos in the dictionary, I also discovered that it also gets confused with Bathos as well!
Now if you have read the earlier blog, you will already know that Pathos, means:
1. The quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature, music, speech, or other forms of expression, of evoking a feeling of pity or compassion.
2. Pity.
3. Obsolete. Suffering.
Whereas Bathos means:
1. A sudden ludicrous descent from exalted to ordinary matters or style in speech or writing.
2. Insincere or excessive pathos.
3. Triteness; flatness.
4. The lowest point; nadir.
Interestingly the word itself comes from the Greek Bathus, which means depth, or deep and where we also get our word Bath from.
Well! Whether you wanted to or not, you now know the difference between Pathos and Bathos. The only question that remains then, is whether you are pathos and evoking compassion? Or whether you are Bathos and seen as insincere and trite?
Of course the same question can also be quite well asked of my blogs too! Well, again it is over to you now.

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