by spicywife

Word of the Week: Love

You might think love is a pretty obvious word, but the meanings are complex and everyone may define love as something different. And is it a word used in the game of tennis?

I don’t play tennis so I can’t say so for sure, which is why I looked it up on the internet. I mean, if you want to find valuable and truthful information, just check the internet.

According to Merriam Webster:

(1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties
: attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers
: affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests
6 : an amorous episode : love affair
7 : the sexual embrace : copulation
8 : a score of zero (as in tennis)
— at love : holding one’s opponent scoreless in tennis
in love : inspired by affection

Is love the same thing as sexual desire? Before you step in muddy water, it’s essential to point out that the term love is pretty subjective. Some agree that sexual desire is strictly a psychical excitement, and there are those that argue that love must come before sexual desire.
For me, it goes hand in hand. But it’s all relative and I’ll take the safe route and say love is…… what you make of it.
And I know you’re curious about why the word “love” is used in tennis. I know you aren’t some super duper tennis pro that already knows this, so just read on to find out. And don’t blame it on the French, for one that’s just not socially acceptable anymore.
The term “love” is used for a score of zero.
Tennis players have literally formed groups in alliance against the term “love,” in hopes to distinguish its use completely, claiming that it’s an absurd bit of terminology. Though that was sourced from a New York Times article from 1919, so yeah.. maybe that’s a bit outdated
One explanation is that french tennis players would draw zeroes on the score sheets that were oval, resembling eggs. The score of zero became known as l’oeuf, which means “egg” in French. Since this sounds a bit like “love” in English, it became the world used in England for the term zero.

Personally, I wonder how zero feels about that.

Also, that explanation is widely debated and the truth is no one really knows and this is probably a boring topic so let’s move on.

If you google the word “love,” you’ll come up with many things:

Looking for a Booty Call? Don’t promise marriage – Just date!

Make Him Fall in Love (because of course there’s a way to do that, grab your cauldron!)

How to Love

And of course, a bazillion quizzes so that you can figure out if you are in love or not. But please resist the urge to click on over to Google so you can take those quizzes, I know you want to but at least finish reading this article first. Love can wait.

My favorite definition of love, however, is one that I found from the Urban Dictionary:

“The most spectacular,indescribable, deep euphoric feeling for someone.”

I’m sure you are know feeling the urge to draw a great big heart on the bathroom mirror in red lipstick as a tribute to the love in your life so I won’t hold you back any further.

And if you are feeling poetic, I’ll leave you with this….

“ One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life:

That word is love.

-Sophocles “