Listening to a discussion on the radio earlier the question was are we a ‘glass half-full’ nation or ‘glass half-empty’? This apparently was shorthand for ‘optimistic’ or ‘pessimistic’. Setting aside the necessity to use synonyms when words have more than three syllables, it got me thinking about those glass expressions. My simple reading of glasses and liquids is that if I’m drinking a pint of ale and the level reaches the half-pint line I’d say that glass was “half-empty”, but when I refill the now empty glass and the level reaches the half-pint mark I’d say the glass was “half-full” - nothing at all to do with whether I am popsitive or negative, or have a cheery or grumpy disposition.
A closing thought - at a social gathering where the host was filling the glass, he might contend that to suggest my glass was 'half-full’ was unreasonably optimistic!
