Am I the only person who gets annoyed by the overuse of the word "cowardly"?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

It seems to be trotted out to describe all sorts of people whose bravery is either not apparent, or regrettably high.

The usual excuse for calling someone who has done something bad but not obviously indicative of lack of courage is that they "didn't have the courage not to do it", which can, of course, be used to brand anything cowardly.

On average, bad people are braver than good people. Many atrocities require courage to commit, and most of the ones that don't are not indicative of cowardice.

[jberryhill]

1. Does the word scare you?

[Ino]

2. You're not the only one (nt)

[unblock]

3. add that to the long list of orwellian terminology the media and republicans love so much.

[bigwillq]

4. The overuse of that word does not bother me.

I have more important things to be annoyed about.

[knownow]

5. adjetive challenged

or they can't spell pusillanimous, I know I can't without spell check.,

[TygrBright]

6. Speaking AS a coward, YES.

I'm very timid about stuff like loud noises, things that hurt, people I love dying, all kinds of fears.

I know I'm a coward, and don't mind being called a coward.

But it's not a synonym for "ignorant sleazebag weasel." If that's what you mean, just say that.

offendedly,
Bright

[Nye Bevan]

7. It has come to mean "contemptible".

As an example, boarding a plane with a bomb in your underpants and attempting to detonate it in flight is a disgusting thing to do, but it would be a stretch to describe it as "cowardly".

[man4allcats]

8. To me, bravery means having the courage of your convictions.

There are, for example, many cowards who will commit all kinds of atrocities and when confronted, claim they were only following orders and had they not done so, they would have been punished by their superiors. So much for "Support Our Troops."

For my own part, I consider one of the most heroic statements to be that of Emiliano Zapata. He said, "It's better to die on you feet than live on your knees." He was assassinated in 1919 at the age of 39 for running his mouth in support of Mexican peasant farmers. Some things never change.

"You could look it up." - Yogi Berra

[cyberswede]

9. I mix it up and use "craven" sometimes.

Especially when referring to Republicans.

[Eleanors38]

10. Well, steer clear of the Gungeon.

[hobbit709]

11. The next one started: ARE YOU A COWARD? Well, yes, certainly. If possible. If allowed a free choice.