The (Ecstatic) Eager vs Anxious Page:
English is a living language.
English does not stay still, locked up in some dictionary.
English
evolves constantly, creating new words and new meanings for old words,
and deleting no longer needed words and meanings.
English will be a living language as long as living people use it.
Standard English exists in part to cushion the blows of so many rapid changes.
"Anxious"
has been, is being, will be used as a "mistake" in Standard English so
often that it shows signs of no longer being a mistake.
But, lots of people work very hard to maintain that "Anxious" should not be used when you mean "Eager."
For that reason, I encourage you to learn when, in Standard English, to use "Eager" and when to use "Anxious."
"Eager" means that I'm in a hurry to do something I really want to do:
I am eager to see if she is as disturbingly ugly as her sister.
Fenster is very eager to meet you, sis.
Probably replacing each "eager" with an "anxious" would sound fine.
It sounds OK because so many people use "anxious" that way.
We may even live to see the day when using "anxious" will be acceptable.
But, in Standard English we're not there yet.
"Anxious" is a psychological term.
It refers to anxiety.
It does not refer to wanting something.
When Mr. Glubermier announced the test next week, I became really anxious.
I became really anxious when I noticed that there was a large tiger in my living room.
In
these correctly used instances of "anxious" it would be silly to use
"eager", but we seem to feel it's OK to replace "eager" with "anxious".
Maybe because so many situations in life give us conflicted, ambivalent feelings:
I am eager to see my test results.
SusyMae was eager to see what her blind date looked like.
We certainly would experience anxiety as well as eagerness in those two situations.
And, given the contexts of those two uses of "eager", using the word "anxious" may even be more logical.
But not (yet) in Standard English.
Fun
activity: Every time you hear your friends, your family, your
teachers--especially your English teachers--using "anxious" when they
should be using "eager" correct them by pointing your finger and
screaming "You used 'anxious' when you shouldda used 'eager' you
dummy!"
And then laugh hysterically until tears roll down your cheeks.
Someday, they will all thank you for it.
Maybe you will live that long.
To return to Step Two click here.
