In his column in the delightful magazine The Oldie British journalist and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth writes about ‘gratitudinising.’
He writes that this is a ‘real word or has become one because so many people are using it.’
He claims to have heard it often in recent months.
Really? I doubt that the appellation ‘real word’ should be applied to ‘gratitudinising.’
The real words in are in the dictionary.
In particular, in that great and final authority on the English language—the Oxford English Dictionary.
And I have searched diligently throughout the complete unabridged, most up-to-date online version and ‘gratitudinising’ is just not there.
Nor is there any verb ‘to gratitudinise.’
The same applies to all of the rest of the great dictionaries of English-speaking world: America’s Merriam-Webster Third International Unabridged, the great Collins dictionaries, the Cambridge English Dictionary and so on.
The word ‘gratitudinising’ is just not there—but perhaps it should be?
Here’s what Gyles Brandreth writes: ‘We gratitudinisers are more than merely grateful: we are people who are consciously counting our blessings—and doing it on a daily basis and for a purpose.’
He goes on to say that having what used to be called an ‘attitude of gratitude’ has beneficial health effects—reduces stress levels, improves your brain’s capacity to manage stress, while boosting concentration and reducing feelings of loneliness.
There used to be a song in Sunday School many, many years ago: ‘Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.’
Because we are so aware of what makes us feel unhappy or annoyed or depressed, we can easily forget the other side of the coin.
You woke up this morning still drawing breath.
You are in Australia—the best address on earth.
And, as Jesus famously said, God ‘gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust too.’
Even on the days when you’re not firing on all cylinders, and you don’t do what you really should, you are still surrounded by sunlight and fresh air.
So perhaps it’s time to take up Gyles Brandreth’s odd word ‘gratitudinising’ and make it a part of our daily lives as regular as our morning coffee?
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