Emotional

Gordon has a complaint to make. It has to do with a word that has found its way into every day use, and it's got him quite emotional . . . er, upset.

The word is "emotional." People use the word all the time. "It was an emotional reunion." "I got emotional at the end of that movie." "When I told her I wanted to end our relationship, she became emotional."

A quick Google search finds the word used in these contexts:

"Ira Hayes definitely was an emotional fellow,"

[he] “was emotional, absolutely and he was from the time that he found out"

[the] "photographer's journey was emotional"

Ok. So, which emotion are we talking about? Here are a few from which we can choose, listed alphabetically:

Acceptance, Agitation, Alarm, Amusement, Anger, Angst, Annoyance, Anticipation, Apprehension, Apathy, Awe, Bitterness, Boredom Betrayal, Calmness, Cautiousness, Comfort, Contentment, Confidence, Courage, Depression, Disappointment, Discontentment, Disgust, Desire, Delight. Determination, Elation or Euphoria, Embarrassment, Ennui, Envy, Ecstasy, Fear, Friendship, Frustration, Glee, Gladness, Gratitude, Grief, Guilt, Hate, Happiness, Homesickness, Honor, Hope, Horror, Humility, Impatience, Inadequacy, Irritability, Joy, Jealousy, Kindness, Loneliness, Love, Lust, Melancholy, Modesty, Nervousness, Negativity, Nostalgia, Pain, Patience, Peace, Phobia, Pity, Pride, Rage, Regret, Remorse, Resentment, Sadness, Schadenfreude, Self-pity, Shame, Shyness, Sorrow, Shock,Suffering, Surprise, Suspense, Unhappiness, Vulnerability, Worry, Yearning, Zest

So . . . which one is it?

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Alright - Gordon's dictionary lists a few synonyms for emotional which blow his argument out of the water: "during the speech we all became a little emotional tearful, teary-eyed, sad, choked up, weepy; formal literary lachrymose. antonym dry-eyed." But Gordon wants more precision. If there's a word for it, then use the word, he says. Don't settle for an approximation. That's what Gordon says.