“Hey, how are you doing?” “Fine.”

“How did that meeting go?” “Fine.”

“Did you enjoy that article I sent you?” “It was fine.”

The word “Fine” is as pervasive as it is harmful. It is a locust that has swarmed into our society, and devoured our ability to speak with one another in any meaningful way. Fine as a word is simply filler, fluff, or fat needing to be trimmed.

In thinking about this word, I decided to come up with an acronym (because why not) which describes why I feel so strongly about this simple word.

Functionally
Irrelevant,
Nonsensical
Emptiness

This may seem a bit harsh, but allow me to walk you through why I see this as not only accurate but destructive.

Functionally Irrelevant – These two words work together in this case. The speak to the notion that the word fine adds nothing to a conversation. A shrug of the shoulders says more, as does a nonresponse. When someone utters the word “fine” they are, intentionally or not, derailing the conversation by ignoring the heart of the question. The person asking doesn’t mere want to hear your voice, they want content.

Nonsensical – I defined fine by an acronym, but what meaning does fine really have? The range is so broad that the word means nothing. It is utter nonsense. Using this as a response is just as helpful as spewing nonsense.

Emptiness – Emptiness is a big word when you really think about it. To define something by emptiness is to give it a lot of power. This flippant response is not just derailing gibberish, but it creates unnecessary empty space between people. It is a way of holding others at arm’s length, not allowing anyone the opportunity to experience community.

This is quite a heavy load to dump on one word, so why have I even bothered? Too often I watch groups of people, when peers or leaders, classmates or coworkers, deny community with one another in exchange for pleasantries and walls. How can we expect ourselves to grow if we block others out? Why does any of us believe that outside of community we can be a whole person? And if we are hurting, why inflict more pain on ourselves instead of allowing someone else to help bear it?

Stop lying to others and to yourselves: Nothing is ever “fine.”

Pax,

Paul Hart Cochran