Day 11: What does it mean?
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Inigo Montoya was talking about Vizzini’s “inconceivable” obsession, but it (like all Princess Bride quotes) holds up in real life. Words are kind of slippery. We use them and ascribe them all sorts of meanings and contexts and roles. That’s one of the reasons I love words. It’s also kind of what makes them so hard.
So after all this talk about hope, what does the word “hope” actually mean? And what do I think it means?
Left to my own devices, I’d define hope as a wish that things will be better, an expectation that something will improve, or a desire that a particular outcome will occur.
Y’all might already know that The American Heritage Dictionary is my dictionary of choice, and it defines hope as follows:
v. hoped, hop·ing, hopes
v.intr.
1. To wish for a particular event that one considers possible: We are hoping for more financial support. [1]
2. Archaic To have confidence; trust.
v.tr.
To desire and consider possible: I hope that you will join us for dinner. We hope to buy a house in the spring. See Synonyms at expect.
n.
1.
a. The longing or desire for something accompanied by the belief in the possibility of its occurrence: He took singing lessons in the hope of performing in the musical.
b. An instance of such longing or desire: Her hopes of becoming a doctor have not changed.
2. A source of or reason for such longing or desire: Good pitching is the team's only hope for victory.
3. often Hope Christianity The theological virtue defined as the desire and search for a future good, difficult but not impossible to attain with God's help.
4. Archaic Trust; confidence.
Idiom:
hope against hope
To hope with little reason or justification.
[Middle English hopen, from Old English hopian.]
hoper n.
What strikes me most in that definition is the persistence of possibility. According to the AHD, all contemporary definitions of hope entail the idea that what we hope for is possible. (The archaic ones don’t, which is interesting.) I hadn’t thought about that before and will definitely need to percolate on it some, but my first thought there is that I wonder if I hope for the impossible. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s my gut reaction.[2]
Also, the AHD tosses in a nod to the use of hope in a Christian sense as a theological virtue. It does not mention other world religions, though, so I wonder if hope figures more prominently in Christianity than it does in other faiths.
I like to consult at least two dictionaries to get a broader view; Webster’s defines hope this way:
hope 1 of 2 verb
hoped; hoping
1: to cherish a desire with anticipation : to want something to happen or be true
hopes for a promotion
hoping for the best
I hope so.
2 archaic : TRUST
1: to desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment
I hope she remembers.
hopes to be invited
2: to expect with confidence : TRUST
Your mother is doing well, I hope.
hoper noun
hope 2 of 2 noun
1
a: desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment
came in hopes of seeing you
also : expectation of fulfillment or success
no hope of a cure
when they were young and full of hope
b: someone or something on which hopes are centered
our only hope for victory
c: something desired or hoped for
great hopes for the coming year
Phrases
hope against hope
: to hope without any basis for expecting fulfillment
That one seems to be more about expectation. Expectation fits better with my own idea of hope than possibility does. Maybe expectation necessarily entails possibility. You wouldn’t expect anything that wasn’t possible, would you? I get lost in all sorts of weird little word trails in my head. Definitions can make things clearer and murkier all at the same time.
The line that gets me in Webster is this: to want something to happen or be true. I think that’s my rub with the whole hope thing. Wanting something to be true doesn’t actually make it true.
It’s also interesting to me that both dictionaries mention hope against hope as lacking cause or basis. Maybe that’s hoping for the impossible? Maybe that’s the kind of hope I have a problem with? Hope against hope. Expecting against expectation. What is the sense of that?
[1] (Aren’t we all, AHD? Aren’t we all?)
[2] Note: gut reactions are hard for me to type out loud, but I think it’s part of the noticing the moment business, so I’m trying to be better at it. Urgh.