I’ve noticed that the English language conveniently offers its users tremendous leeway in describing personality traits of individuals, with some descriptors offering decidedly positive connotations while others produce decidedly negative connotations. Some examples:
Ambitious/Greedy: A person who is very eager to attain money, power, success, and recognition could be described as ‘ambitious’ by allies. However, opponents might label the same person as simply being ‘greedy’.
Faithful/Credulous: A person who holds a strong belief of something despite not having evidence for that belief could be described as ‘faithful’ by someone attempting to produce positive spin, but ‘gullible’ and ‘credulous’ could just as easily be used by someone trying to use a negative spin.
Confident/Arrogant: If a person is very self-assured, proud, and generally unhesitant about expressing his or her opinion of matters, they are usually billed ‘confident’ by admirers, but they would more likely be characterized as ‘arrogant’ or ‘overbearing’ by detractors.
Can you think of any other examples of strikingly different descriptors that could be used to describe the same person?
Thanks.