Love.

I hate it.

The word, I mean.

Misused and overused.

Love regularly gets recklessly shuffled into shopworn statements.

It’s used to proclaim everything from affection for human beings…

…to fondness for fruit salad.

We could learn a lot from the Greeks.

Firstly, they invented gyros.

Secondly, they had multiple words for Love.

We ought to do that.

Use the word, ‘Agape’ for

“…an unconditional love that sees beyond the outer surface and accepts the recipient for whom he/she is, regardless of their flaws, shortcomings or faults.”

Agape would put an end to the ‘haters gonna hate’ mantra.

Much warmer than mere ‘tolerance’.

“I agape you, man!”

“…but that doesn’t mean I wanna hang out with you.”

And we could use ‘Phileo’ to mean:

” …an affectionate, warm and tender platonic love. It makes you desire friendship with someone.”

This word would make it possible for guys to maintain masculinity when expressing love.

“Phileo, bro.”

“Back at ya.”

‘Storge’ is what we’d say when we mean:

“…a kind of family and friendship love. This is the love that parents naturally feel for their children; the love that member of the family have for each other; or the love that friends feel for each other.”

When someone says, “I love ice cream” we know what they mean.

They don’t mean, “I Storge ice cream”.

…at least I hope they don’t mean that.

…because as good as Rocky Road is, it shouldn’t get an inheritance.

And finally we’d use ‘Eros’ to mean:

“… a passionate and intense love that arouses romantic feelings; It is simply an emotional and sexual love.”

This is the singular meaning that makes the word ‘Love’ so awkward.

It’s disturbing to think of ‘Eros’ when someone says,

…”I love my dog.”

Love is just too vague.

Hate doesn’t have any ambiguity.

The phrase, “I hate you” …

…has the same meaning no matter who you’re speaking to.

Nobody ever asks for clarification.

“Do you hate me like a family member…

… or like asparagus?”

So while I’m not in favor of adopting the Greek finance model,

I’m in favor of using multiple words to say ‘Love’.

It’s a great idea.

I love that idea.