The word “favorite” suffers from a lack of specificity. In other words, though it implies a definitive meaning, in reality it means nothing at all.
1fa·vor·ite
noun \ˈfā-v(ə-)rət, ˈfā-vərt, chiefly dialect ˈfā-və-ˌrīt\
one that is treated or regarded with special favor or liking
I’m guilty of using this word all the time.
Today, purple is my favorite color. Tomorrow, it’ll be green again. It’s always saffron. I also like grey. Can they all be my favorite? Yes, says the dictionary, because they are all treated and regarded with special favor or liking.
I love to wear purple, but saffron and green are pretty hit or miss with my skin tone. I love to work with green in design, but purple tends to be overwhelming and saffron can be difficult to read or emote. I like to live surrounded by saffron. Most of my things are grey, or accented by grey.
And how about days?
Thursdays are my favorite day. I was married on a Tuesday and, that week, it was my favorite day. I also like the 9th. I like today, too. Maybe today is my favorite day– for now, at least.
When asking a question that requires those answering to narrow down a series of options to a specific choice, why define that narrowing process with a word that has no real meaning?
For example, why ever say: What is your favorite movie?
This question could mean:
- What’s your favorite movie to watch multiple times?
- What’s your favorite movie in regards to a certain emotion or memory?
- What movie to you recommend most often to friends and family?
- What movie have you invested the most money in (theater, product)?
- What movie have you invested the most time in (viewings and conventions)?
- What movie do you never say no to?
- What’s your go-to movie for events?
- What is your favorite movie in terms of cinematic production?
- Pick a movie that you liked well enough for me to continue this line of thought without interruption.
Most of those questions could be broken down even further.
Someone has a much better chance of answering the question you didn’t ask, than answering the question you thought you asked. See how the definition suffers for its breadth? It is limitless in its ability to define, yet completely walled off by our own ability to interpret.
Asking specific yet meaningless questions is an ineffective use of a precious resource– communication. **
So when I read today’s prompt from The Daily Post:
Daily Prompt: Take a quote from your favorite movie — there’s the title of your post. Now, write!
I interpreted it as:
Daily Prompt: Take a quote from a movie you liked — there’s the title of your post. Now, write!
But because I can’t be assured that I picked the right sub-definition, I kept revisiting the original prompt for more specific clues. I didn’t find any, so I trudged forward with the decision to go with my interpretation and an explanation as to why the word favorite could result in such a convoluted thought process.
So that’s where I ended up. Oddly, I circled back to a quote from the movie that originally popped into my mind when reading the prompt.
Thanks for taking that thought journey with me and please forgive me for wanting a little specificity*.
_____________________
Daily Post Prompt: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/daily-prompt-silver-screen/
* From Inception
** Ironically, on the first publish of this post, that particular sentence was missing words and pluralization making it virtually incomprehensible.
Lol, apparently I don’t think things through enough. When people ask me “What’s your favourite _______”, I usually just reply with the first _________ that comes to my mind that I enjoy. If the person accepts this and moves on, great. If they go, “But wait, last time I asked you, I thought you said it was ________”, to which I reply, “If you already know, then why did you ask???”
It’s always nice to read all the different takes to these Daily Prompts, I really like yours, one of my favorites.
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I think it works best when sprinkled with a little hyperbole – This is my favorite post EVER!!!
All is forgiven, of course.
Rawra, you make me laugh. Great post!
Mise en abyme of favoritism? Or language in general? Did I dream you dreamed about me?
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Great post! Every time I’m asked ‘What is your favorite movie?’ My answer will be along the lines of ‘uhhhhhh…’ A little specificity is always good.
Isn’t it funny because I had the same reaction. I wasn’t actually sure what I was supposed to do. Words. English words. One word, eight zillion possible interpretations.
You lost me at The lol methinks I’m just a little tired
Well done on your “specificity*. 
I enjoyed this, but must admit the comments were interesting too!
Wilson uses the word favourite the best. Everything is his FAVOURITE!!!! until he tries it and then some things are NOT his favourite, like tortoise food, pears and shopping.
I think Tigger in Winnie the Pooh was the same. It’s a good attitude to have
I started writing a list of my favourite films and I have now got to 35 and I KNOW there are loads missing.
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You might be being too specific here…. you’re keying of “favorite” in the sense of, “She was a favorite of the queen.” In that sense, it does mean, ‘any member of a group of undetermined size receiving favor.’ But there is also the sense of ‘expected to win’ (the Boston Red Sox were the favorites to win the pennant this year).
I think the latter sense is the one meant when people ask what is your favorite ‘X’.
That said, one stick in my craw is how people conflate ‘favorite’ with ‘good’. The problem exists for both senses. People equate things they favor with things that are good, and people really like equating their favorite things with Good Things. (This is how shallow modern films, such as the Batman movies end up on IMDB’s “Best 200 Films” list. People don’t vote for best — most people couldn’t provide a working definition of cinematic quality at gunpoint — but for what they like.)
More to the point, as you show, asking the question, “What’s your favorite ‘X’?” is incredibly dependent on the exact question asked. “What’s your favorite TV show is a question I cannot answer.” “What’s your favorite Science Fiction TV show lately?” is. (Doctor Who. Hands down.)
True! I know what people intend to ask, but it’s stressful because often times people confuse words with other words– like favorite or good. I don’t always understand people.
My best example of this is how I tell people that Farscape is/was my favorite television series. They then say, ‘oh, it’s good then, should I watch it?”
Yikes, no. Most people would not like Farscape at all… and calling it “good tv” is a stretch of the imagination. But it makes me laugh, cry, and shout– no matter how many times I watch it– so it is my favorite.
I liked your phrasing of the question, and I’d have to agree with that version– my favorite recent sci fi tv show lately is Doctor Who.
Steven Moffat is one of my favorite people who I don’t actually know. 
I know what you mean! There are many things I favor that, if I recommend them (or even just speak of them), I need to include, “If you like that sort of thing.”
Have you seen the BBC Dr. Who retrospective shows they’re doling out every few weeks? Each show covers one Doctor and features interview snippets with Moffat and others of the current show along with bits from various still-living cast members or crew from that Doctor’s era. Plus they screen a full episode of that Doctor. They’re up to #4 so far (Tom Baker, of course). Somehow I managed to never get into the older incarnation of the show, so these have been a lot of fun!
(As a code cutter, lo these past four decades, I tend to be extremely precise with words.)