Your dream house, or the house you have always wished for?

While listening to a radio commercial I realized something about the interpretation of the word “dream” that annoys me.

Some people confuse the word “dream” with “wish.”

for example, someone recieves a gift they may claim “This is just what I always dreamed of!”

… is it really? Did this person actually log dreams in their DD of this gift … or are they using the word “dream” in place of the word “wish” such as “This is just what I always wished for!”

Some may ask me why I complain about the use of the word and why it annoys me. Please let me hold your attention while I explain.
I suppose it’s because of a dream I heard somone share with me. It was a friend that had done simple electrical work at a loved ones house recently. Afterwards they dreamt of the house burning down and the loved ones then rejecting him and expelling them from their life.

It was clear to me and my close friend the source of this dream. We shared a conversation about the meaning of this dream and how during that electrical job quesitons were repeatedly asked if the “wiring is right” and jokes like “don’t burn down the house.”
… anyways, for attentions sake … it was clear to both of us that this dream was no premonition but rather a manifestation of fear.

Well, when sharing this story of the dream to the loved ones with the electrical work done … they became superstitious and refused to hear the rest of the dream. :neutral:

Why do people so quickly take dreams as premonitions? Or is it that if a person talks about something that it may happen?

either way, it got me thinking about the dual definition of the word “dream” and it’s possible enforcement of the idea that if a person dreams of something then it must mean that they are wishing for that or somewhere deeply desiring that to happen. WRONG!

… except on this occasion

When someone does desire something very strongly it will be on their mind often. Therefore creating a “dream incubation” scenerio and causing them to dream of this desire, and maybe even become a recurring dream or DS.

Sadly, some people make wishes or desires that will never become true. Then people claim “they are dreaming.”
This is odd considering that these same people might not want to hear a dream of their house burning down in fear of that dream coming true! :tongue: but on the same hand say that a wish that is a dream will never come true! errrr! :grrr: the logic is not here.

a dream is not a wish. and a wish is not a dream.
Is this confusion only in American English? :confused:

The same ting counts for Norwegian too :yes:

Also people uses that expression on nightmare too, when something bad happens: “OMG! THIS IS MY WORST NIGHTMARE!” ans stuff like that.

I think it is more a reference to daydreaming…

video.google.com/videosearch?q=s … +symbolism

one must be a very critical consumer of the mass media

advertisements are created to elicit very irrational expectations in their viewers, and no one is entirely immune

how many times have you seen a guy picking up a hot girl because of some product he had ? The implication is that you now desire to pick up hot girls and think that they bring you this effortless sense of power and joy, not that you want to buy spear-mint gum.

It’s the same in swedish,
but I see it more like that the word dream means two things,
dream=dreams you have in the night
always dreamed about, what I always wanted.
a word can have 2 different meanings so it doesn’t me so much.

Well, I have 2 examples of writers that had used this.
In one of the books in Narnia by C. S. Lewis
The encounter the “island where dreams come true” it doesn’t mean that you get what you want, instead all your nightmares become true on that island.

and a quote from Hogfather by Terry Pratchett:
“Who are you?”
“Ah. I’m glad you asked. I’m your worst nightmare!” said Teatime cheerfully
“You mean . . . the one with the giant cabbage and the sort of whirring knife thing?”
“Sorry?” Teatime looked momentarily nonplussed.
“Then you’re the one about where I’m falling, only instead of ground underneath it’s all-”
“No, in fact I’m-”
The guard sagged. “Awww, not the one where there’s all this kind of, you know, mud and then everything goes blue-”
“No, I’m-”
“Oh, shit, then you’re the one where there’s this door only there’s no floor beyond it and then there’s these claws-”
“No” said Teatime. “Not that one.” He withdrew a daggger from his sleeve. “I’m the one where this man comes out of nowhere and kills you stone dead.”
The guard grinned with relief . “oh, that one,” he said.
“But that one’s not very-”

I wonder what would happend to me there.

I can’t recall having nightmares for years and years !

The only a little similar thing is that I someitmes have repetive and boring dreams, but thats not nightmares, aye?