In full candor I admit I enjoy listening to podcasts rather than reading lengthy online articles. It is true you can now hear short pieces, like Word Wisdom and other news and information articles on sites like MooseJawToday.com, but personally anything much longer than 1,000 words I love to listen on a forum like a podcast.
Candor means honest or sincere expression.
Candor is derived from the Latin candere, meaning to shine or glow. When the word was first used in English in the 1300s it meant brightness or brilliance. That definition has developed into literary usage only today.
Christopher Morley (1890-1957), an American journalist and novelist, wrote in Where the Blue Begins, “His heart was drowned in the engulfing blue. As they made their southing, wind and weather seemed to fall astern, the sun poured with a more golden candor. He stood at the wheel in a tranquil reverie, blithely steering toward some bright belly of cloud that had caught his fancy.”
Candor was also associated with the Latin word candidus, meaning bright or white. Candid, also from candidus, morphed from its original meaning into honesty and forthrightness. It also carries the meaning of bluntness, as well as being free from bias, prejudice, or malice.
And so, candor also adopted implications of forthrightness and fairness. The things he shared with the group were done with candor that acknowledged the weaknesses in his own personality. The group expected more impartiality from her since she appeared to be a woman of candor.
Synonyms of candor can be frankness, openness, and straightforwardness.
Frankness stresses lack of shyness or secretiveness or of evasiveness from considerations of tact or expedience. When it came to raising children, the young couple had frank discussions about the issue.
Openness implies frankness but suggests more indiscretion than frankness and less earnestness than candid. Some parents encourage their teenagers to be open in saying what they think.
Straightforwardness means being free from evasiveness or obscurity. She gave a straightforward account to the authorities about what she observed at the company meetings.
I came across a podcast by author and speaker Kim Scott recently, entitled “Radical Candor: The Communication Shift That Can Transform Your Career.” She defines radical candor as caring personally and challenging directly at the same time. This use of candor is radical because it is rare.
She said, “When you challenge people directly, but you fail to show that you care personally, that is obnoxious. Aggression and obnoxious aggression is a big problem. It’s a problem because it hurts other people. It’s a problem because it’s a waste of breath. If I am obnoxious to you, if I’m a jerk to you, you go into fight or flight mode and then you can’t hear what I’m saying.”
“If we’re caring, but we’re not challenging that I call ruinous empathy. And that is what happens when we don’t tell someone something they’d be better off knowing in the long run because we don’t want to hurt their feelings.”
When it comes to communication with close friends we should do so in candor, in honest and sincere expression. Friendship of this type is both caring and challenging. It is not necessarily radical; it should be fundamental.
John would like to know if anyone has a sincere interest in a relevant word that he could possibly research for an upcoming column. If so, please send your requests to [email protected]. Words will be selected according to relevance and research criteria. We cannot confirm that all words will be used.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
