Bad Guys, Your Mom and Semantics

“Reason" according to the dictionary is defined as:

Noun:  a cause, explanation, or justification for an action or event.

“Excuse" according to the dictionary is defined as:

Noun:  a reason or explanation put forward to defend or justify a fault or offense.

“Semantics" according to the dictionary is defined as:

Noun:  the meaning of a word, phrase, sentence, or text.

I was reading the latest “New Suicide Squad” last night and saw something that applies to bad guys, your mom, and comics, not necessarily in that order.  The topic today is the difference between “Reason” and “Excuse”.  Frankly, it’s all just “Semantics”.  But let’s look closer.

If you’ve read the latest “New Suicide Squad” Annual (actually, it’s not just the latest, it’s the first one.) you will see yet another group trying to take over the world.

This time it’s a subset of the League of Assassins.

This particular subset is trying to bring about a change that, let’s say, outlaws the simple things in life such as freedom of speech, the ability to think for yourself, and worst of all...recess!  I do agree with one thing on their agenda and that is more, and better, education.  It’s not fun that it goes all year ‘round for the kids, and there are no summer breaks, and recess isn’t allowed, and....well, you get the idea.  In the midst of it all, however, Harley Quinn does her best to cheer the kids up.

But I digress...

There are the usual panels where people are overworked, and killed, etc.  There are also the usual panels where the people say, “I’m sick of excuses!!” at which point someone usually gets shot as an example to others.  Did you ever notice that no one ever says, “I’m sick of reasons!!”.

I put the definitions up top so you can see the subtle difference.  The “Reason” is justification for an action or event whereas the “Excuse” is to justify a fault of offense.  So let’s take an example.

“I’m sorry sir!  I can no longer work in your iron mine due to the fact that you have not fed me (ever) and I am only allowed 1 hour of sleep a week, sir!  I need water and a Twinkee.”

In my mind this is a pretty good “reason” for being unable to work in an iron mine.  It is not a fault or offense, right?  The person is tired, famished, and needs water and a Twinkee!  But what does the bad guy say?

“No Excuses!  Get back to work or die like the others!"

Now let’s look at this from a different angle.  Would the bad guy really sound like a bad guy if he said, “That’s not a good reason!  Get back to work or die like the others!”.

It IS a good reason!

Can we agree that the famished, tired worker gave a “reason” not an “excuse”?  It really is an issue of semantics.

Excuse, however, is often conveniently used in real life.  If I am late to work for the 17th time in 17 days, and I claim today that it was due to a flat tire, is that an “excuse” or a “reason”?  The flat tire is an action to be justified, but if I’m late to work all the time it could be an “excuse” to justify my ‘fault’ of always being late at work.  See!  It’s semantics!  (Isn’t it nice to know you will always learn something when reading this blog?)

My theory is that “reason” has a much softer sound to it and “excuse” has the hard sounds of the ‘x’ and ‘c’ in it.  It seems in comics and in life semantics kind of fly out the window and become an issue of what sounds better.  It’s my opinion so it must be right.

Think about it, it just wouldn’t be right for your mom to tell you as a child, “There’s no excuse to be afraid of the dark” and for the Red Skull to scream, “I WILL NOT TOLERATE REASONS!”.

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