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Language/writing question At the very end: > Now, when people ask me what my parents do for a living, I tell them not with embarrassment or shame, but with pr

Language/writing question At the very end: > Now, when people ask me what my parents do for a living, I tell them not with embarrassment or shame, but with pride. In this context, is "pride" appropriate, or would "dignity" (or something else) be better? My mother tongue is italian. I understand "pride" as referring to something exceptional that was done (which doesn't seem to be the case in this article), "dignity" on the other hand as something <appropriate? something not to be ashamed of?>? Thx :)

joveian 5y ago
At least in the US I think pride is now used most commonly in the sense of dignity and in the context of the article pride is the more formulaic term (all based on my general sense from random stuff I read). As in "Pride Month" or "proud to be ...". The sense you mention does also exist and would usually be the case if refering to a particular person or event and in particular when saying "proud of". Although regularly working 12 hours a day is not common so that sense could potentially be intended in this case as well. Even that sense wouldn't necessarily be that strong and conveying that you feel a strong emotion of pride in some accomplishment would involve additional words. Interestingly, when I checked the definition on Wictionary quickly it gave primarily negative connotations to the word while I think that sense is rarely used in the US and usually in a religious context (and even there it would often involve additional words to indicate that the negative sense is used), although I think it may have been used that way more commonly in the past. Usually other words would be used in the negative sense.
- zepearl 5y ago
  Thank you :)