The year 2024 is about to end with one of the words that we at GreenMe like most: we are the ones who chose it, but it is Treccani as part of the communication campaign #wordsareworth to promote correct and conscious use of the language.
Why “respect”? “For its extreme relevance and social relevance”. Leafing through the Treccani Dictionary, respect is defined as a “feeling and attitude of esteem, of attention, but also of respect towards a person, an institution, a culture, which can be expressed with actions or words”.
This word – say Valeria Della Valle and Giuseppe Patota, co-directors of the Treccani Vocabulary – should be placed at the center of every pedagogical project, from early childhood, and then spread in relationships between people, in the family and at work, in relationships with civil and religious institutions, with politics and with the opinions of others. The term respect, continuation of the Latin respectfulmust today be reevaluated and used in all its nuances, precisely because the lack of respect is at the basis of the violence exercised daily against women, minorities, institutions, nature and the animal world.
It is very significant – they add – that the expressions in the Italian language that contain this entry are very numerous: from having respect for someone, someone or something to disrespecting, from giving all respect to with due respect, gradually up to the formula “with everything respect”, unfortunately often used improperly in political controversy as a premise for aggressive, offensive and violent verbal attacks, or the expression men of respect, sadly known for indicating those affiliated with the mafia.
We decline this word like this: respect for the environment, for animals, for the disabled, for nature, for minorities, for women. Respect for girls and boys and for the world we leave them. The Treccani Italian Language Observatory, with this choice, also aims to highlight its urgent function: that of indicating a value to be shared in civil society.
And for you? What deserves more “respect”?
