Pyeonggojae

← All billboard stories

Classics on the Billboard

Pollyanna, the word for relentless optimism

If someone calls you a Pollyanna in English, is it a compliment or a dig?

On the billboard

In English dictionaries, a pollyanna is someone who insists on seeing only the good in everything, an excessively cheerful optimist. When a colleague paints a problem too brightly, the name can land as a gentle rebuke. A heroine's name became a word for a temperament.

In the book Pollyanna · Eleanor H. Porter

In Eleanor H. Porter's Pollyanna, eleven-year-old Pollyanna plays a game she learned from her father. She calls it the 'just being glad' game. It began the day she hoped for a doll and a missionary barrel brought crutches instead; her father suggested being glad that she did not need them. So the game is not pretending; it is a choice made after looking disappointment in the face.

Say it to a friend like this

Pollyanna isn't just a word for naive. It comes from a glad game that began with crutches instead of a doll.