G 224 Rasmussen College Denotation and Connotation Discussion

Directions:

Denotation is essentially a word’s dictionary definition. Connotation refers to the “emotional content” of a word. Two words can have the same denotation but have different connotations, one positive and the other negative, for instance.

Consider the following ten words:

Aroma

Stink

Smell

Stench

Bouquet

Odor

Scent

Fragrance

Reek

Perfume

These ten words all have the same or similar denotation, but vastly different connotations.

Initial post:

1. Categorize the ten words. Which words have positive connotations? Which are negative? Which (if any) are neutral?
2. Further, rank the words within each category. Are some more positive or negative than others?
3. Think of another group of three or more words with the same or similar denotation but very different connotations (such as slender, thin, and skinny; thrifty, careful with money, and cheap). How do you use these words differently? Why do they have the connotations they do?

Reply posts:

Choose two of your peers’ posts and respond by addressing the following:

• How similar was their ranking of the list of words to your ranking?
• Do you agree with how they see the connotations of these words? Why or why not?
• Where are there differences, and why?
• Do you agree with how they see the connotations of their own collection of words with similar denotations? Why or why not?

Peer Response: 

1.) I think the words with positive connotations are: Aroma, smell, scent, bouquet, fragrance, and perfume. Negative, I believe are: Stink, stench, odor, and reek. I do think that smell is possibly a neutral word. You can speak on something smelling good or the smelling bad.

2.) Most positive, in order: Perfume, fragrance, bouquet, aroma, smell, scent. I think that perfume would have to be the most positive out of the words I chose, only because it’s something that is supposed to make you smell good.

Negative in order: Reek, odor, stench, stink. These words seemed more obviously negative then the others. These are not words you use to describe something smelling good. You would use these when something is not pleasant or it’s really a bad stench.

3.) The first group of words that come to mind are Pretty, beautiful, gorgeous. I think these words are used differently in order to describe the amount of someone’s appearance. If someone were to be complemented and was called pretty, I could see that as being the complementer thinks maybe this person is only pretty and not quite beautiful or gorgeous. (this was the first group of words that came to mind, hoping not to offend anyone.)