Chronology of the word "poor"
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9th Weeks Project (Poor)
I think the most interesting thing about my word was that it’s centuries old. It seems that poverty has always existed. Well, poor has a lot of different meanings. That’s another reason why it impressed me.
It was kind of an easy project. I didn’t have any difficulties interviewing people but I did have trouble interpreting and understanding the poem and the quotes because I don’t know one hundred percent English. I am more of a Spanish poet. I don’t think the rest of the project was difficult.
On my first paper, I only wrote what I knew about the word “poor”. When I wrote it I was thinking of my childhood life because it is basically what I lived in, poverty. I don’t feel ashamed of coming from the ghetto. I feel proud at some point. I guess these are some of the reasons that motivate me to help poor people in South American countries in the future when I’m rich and famous as a Spanish rapper.
The interview with Luis Martinez (on 04/20/10) impacted me very strongly. He argued that, “How is it possible for Mexican immigrants to be demanding rights in a country when the Mexican government is treating even worst other people in Mexico (South Americans)?” I believe that poor people go to other places for a better life not for a bad treatment. I thought his response was more like in politics, but I accepted it because it involves poor people.
The next interviewed person was Ms. Orr on April, 13, 2010. This opened my mind the most because she was giving me examples of different “poor” meanings. She was talking almost like a philosopher. She stated, “I think the word poor has a lot of negative connotations. It can have a lot of different definitions and uses. Low quality, those who live in poverty, someone you feel sorry for…”
“Well I feel compassion for the poor…I feel we have responsible to help the poor.” She “would help the poor of the US because then we could help others around the world.” She shocked me at first at first with her words, but she killed that emotion when she said she would her own people instead of poorer people. I would help Guatemala because it has the highest rate of desnutrition among minors.
Then the three quotes:
“Poor and content is rich, and rich enough
But riches fineless is as poor as winter
To him…” (Othello, Act III, Scene iii)
I didn’t understood this quote this quote very much but I think it’s just saying that rich people is not necessarily educated by this part, “But riches fineless is as poor as winter”.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for there is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
(St. Mathew, 5:13)
Is people without spirit or soul the ones that only go to Heaven? But if God gives everyone a soul, then no one is going to Heaven, I just don’t get it.
“My friend were poor, but honest”
(All Well Ends Well, Act I, Scene iii)
This was easier for me to understand because basically it’s just saying that poor people live in poverty but honestly and they have nothing to hide from society like bad behavior or reputation.
Now the poem:
“Now there is only the earth, sandy, trodden down,
With one leafless tree”
(Miloz, “A Poor Christian Looks at the Ghetto, lines 13-14)
The first time I read this I thought it was talking about the ghetto, but now I realized it’s telling us that the end of the world is coming soon. The definition of “poor” is not associated with what I wrote about. It is more like what Ms. Orr told me, “Someone you feel sorry for.”
Poor, adj. –er, -est n 1.Having little or no money, goods, or other means of support. (Flexer, pg. 1504). This from the unabridged dictionary is just the first definition and my favorite. This is the connotation I was thinking of while writing my first paper.
Poor comes from “Middle English povere, povre, poure and Old French, paubre; in modern French pauvre, dial. Paure, pouvre, poure = Provencial, paubre, pavre; Italian povere; Spanish & Portuguese pobre. Latin pauper, Late Latin also pauper. The Modern English pore with modern vulgar pore compare.” (Poise, 107 & 108)
It’s incredible how this word has changed throughout the centuries. The variations of the word are similar. They are easy to distinguish, too.
Here are some synonyms “poor adj. badly off, poverty-stricken, penniless, hard up, needy, deprived, in need, needful, in want, indigent, impoverished, impecunious, destitute, penurious, beggared, in straitened circumstances…” and the list keeps going. (Mc Kean, 634)
The synonyms proved me the definitions Ms. Orr gave me were correct. A thesaurus doesn’t lie.
It’s fantastic how this word has changed throughout the centuries. It is just indescribable how languages have mixed up n order to create an unique word like this one. It was amazing for me while reading and researching the history and meanings of such an important word in my life.
In conclusion, it is indescribable to explain how exited I was while doing this project because I learned a lot from it. While searching in the web I found many articles related to this word and they were pretty interesting. I felt frustrated while managing the books and documentation and because I didn’t organized well my time. Thank God Ms. Pawelek extended the time to get the project done; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to finish it.
Woks Cited
Flexner, Stuart Berg, The Random Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition Unabridged, Random House, New York, 1987, page 1504
Martinez, Jose Luis, April, 20, 2010
McKean, Erin, Oxford American Large Print Thesaurus, Oxford University Press, 2004, page 634
Miloz, Czeslaw, “A Poor Christian Looks at the Ghetto”
Orr, April, 13, 2010
Poise, Quelt, The Oxford, English Dictionary, Second Edition Volume XIII, Clarendon Press, Oxford, page 107 & 108
Shakespeare, William, All Well That Ends Well, [I, iii, (203)]
Shakespeare, William, Othello, [III, iii]
St. Mathew, 5:13
