Wednesday Word: Ravishing

Now, some of my friends reading this blog might remember my association with this word, and right now they're wincing and saying, 'no not again!'

~They have a point.

But for the rest of you out there, I think we would all benefit from more closely examining the word Ravishing so that the next time you use it you fully understand what you're saying. 

Ravishing--to ravish.  An old term meaning to 'have your way' with someone.  Or more modernly, to rape them.  (it also sounds like 'radish.'  hee)  So ravish used to be used  in sentences like

'He's going to ravish her.'
'She's been ravished by pirates.'
'She's in for a good ravishing.'

But the meaning of the word Ravishing has shifted slightly from those bygone days of complex language.  Now we use it in slightly different sentences like

'She looks really ravishing.'
'Those boots are just ravishing.'

What we mean when we use Ravishing is far more positive than the original meaning.  We mean sexy, or good looking, or fantastic.  But when you get down to it, there's still a bit of the original meaning in the word.  So be aware when next time you're using it, what you're actually saying is

'She looks like a happy visual rape.'

Your eyeballs just got raped by beauty.


(and funny story, I actually said this once to a friend.  It kinda just popped out.  She was wearing a red dress and looked really good, so I said she was Ravishing.  Kind of like a happy visual rape.  For some reason she's still my friend.  Love ya)