Word of the Day: Tone-deaf
Many people like to sing, but most people should never do it in public because they are tone-deaf.
This is because they cannot recognize notes, and no matter what they do, they always sing off-key.
This is me, by the way. I could not carry a tune if my life depended on it.
If I ever did try to sing in public, I would probably endanger my own life.
So, that’s one meaning of tone-deaf – to be unable to sing a tune correctly.
As with everything in the English language, there is another meaning.
This second meaning may be more dangerous than the first.
When politicians or other public figures make a public statement without recognizing the general sensitivity of the matter, they are tone-deaf.
Remember when former Prime Minister Abe tried to promote staying at home during the pandemic by posting his little lounge-at-home video of him and his dog sitting on a sofa?
Well, he was criticized as being tone-deaf by many Japanese people and ‘Who do you think you are?’ even trended on Twitter for a while.
Don’t fret.
It’s not only Japanese leaders who are tone-deaf.
The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is just as tone-deaf as Abe or Suga ever was.
September 30 was the first Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada.
It’s a national holiday in Canada to honour the survivors of the residential school system, their families, and their communities.
First Nations children in Canada were put in special schools and abused and even murdered mercilessly for decades.
On the first observation of this holiday, Trudeau and his family went on vacation.
That is the meaning of tone-deaf.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 9th-grade education (age 15).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 60.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.