Have you ever been reproached for your irrepressible and even idle curiosity? Did you understand exactly what these people mean by saying this? What is idle curiosity? Is it a holiday or not? What is it called and how is it different from the usual one? How to define it? You will learn all this from our article.
Value of expression
So, what does "idle curiosity" mean? First of all, it is the desire to know something. However, the new information will not bring you any benefit and, in fact, will be useless. You do not need to learn anything, because nothing will change from new knowledge.
It turns out that idle curiosity is a senseless desire to find out any information that is not of value to you personally.
Where is the holiday?
If someone shows idle curiosity, it does not mean that something will be celebrated. In this case, the adjective "idle" has the meaning "empty", "unnecessary", "empty","caused by idleness" and stuff like that.
No celebration, only laziness and doing nothing, which encourage a person to search for absolutely unnecessary information.
Examples of idle curiosity
How to understand that curiosity is really idle, and not necessary?
There is an opinion that any curiosity is punishable, because it is caused by a person's desire to amuse himself. It can be born out of boredom, some incomplete information, or out of anger. No wonder there is a saying about Barbara, who suffered from the desire to learn something.
To avoid confusion, it is worth distinguishing between two terms:
- Curiosity. Most often caused by low impulses, information is learned for further negative use, such as blackmail or ridicule. Although the term has a positive connotation, it is not.
- Curiosity. This is exactly what disciples are praised for, and what shows up in young children. This desire to know the world, expand your horizons, comprehend science and discover secrets. The information received will be used for further development or positive action.
Now, knowing the difference between inquisitiveness and curiosity, here are a few examples:
- The neighbors have a scandal. Grandmother carefully listens to what is happening, then to retell everything on a bench at the entrance. This is idle curiosity.
- The kitten for the first time moved away from the mother and withinterest in the place where they live. This is curiosity.
- The child became interested in stars and astrophysics. He asked his parents for a telescope as a gift and reads all the books about the sky that fall into his hands. This is curiosity.
- A colleague has a new expensive phone. Looking for an answer to the question of where she got the money for her mobile is a sign of curiosity.
As you can see, curiosity is associated with obtaining new information for the sake of development and learning, for the sake of knowing the world and its properties. Idle curiosity is something that is of no use.
Will it be useful for office staff to know that their colleague works part-time on weekends? Unlikely. But for a boy who has learned a lot about the stars, it may be easier to learn physics at school in the future.
