Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[susan_wu]

Hello,

If someone said:

"I'm a sensitive man." or "I'm sensitive."
"I'm a sensible man." or "I'm sensible."

What is the difference? Are there any connotation when someone uses this word?

Thanks a lot for your help.

[advoca]

If you, Susan, said "I am a sensitive man," I would be shocked!

[susan_wu]

Thank you, Advoca,

Please set your heart at rest, I'll never say"I am a sensitive man."

The most bad sentence that perhaps I would say is " I am a sensitive girl."

But I'm sure that the same thing will be happened with you, "You would also be shocked!"

I'm so sorry for giving you such awful feeling. I promise such thing will never come true.

So my question is: How to express a people who can feel the slightest feeling or who is easy to be sad and delight through little thing.

Is it enough using this word "sensible"?

Thanks a lot.

[obelix]

Sensitive means very open to or affected by external stimuli or easily offended or emotionally hurt.
So, if it is easy for people to offend you, or make you smile, or if you are moved to tears by the pictures of other peoples' misfortunes, you are sensitive.
You are sensible if you have common sense, wisdom or if you are reasonable, practical and judicious.

[susan_wu]

Thanks Obelix,

I saw the two words in web chat room, someone said " I'm sensitive." , but after a while, he said " on the other hand, I'm a sensible man."

The most bad thing is when I told my friend carelessly, "I'm sensitive." , he got the same feeling with Advoca, he's shocked --he scobed me
" you are insane!"

Oh, My God! can you imagine what my feeling is?
Frustrated extremely!

Who can help me?
What is on earth the negative connotation of this word, "senstive" ?
Why would they get such feeling?

Whenever I'm sane, not insane. I only want to tell my friend that I'll remember the slightest help and caring they gave me.

Thanks a lot!

[advoca]

Susan. there are several ways in which the word sensitive is used.

1 If you are sensitive to other people's needs, problems, or feelings, you show understanding and awareness of them. (Note sensitive TO)

2 If you are sensitive about something, you are easily worried and offended when people talk about it. (Note sensitive ABOUT)

3 A sensitive SUBJECT or issue needs to be dealt with carefully because it is likely to cause disagreement or make people angry or upset.
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4 Sensitive DOCUMENTS or reports contain information that needs to be kept secret and dealt with carefully.

So if you, Susan, simply say that you are sensitive you really ought to explain in what way you are sensitive. But in any case, believe me, to be described as being sensitive is not an insult, and you are not insane.
Briefly, sensitive can mean:

1 easily hurt, delicate, tender
2 susceptible, easily affected, impressionable, responsive,
3 touchy, easily offended, easily upset, thin-skinned
4 responsive, acute, fine, keen, precise

You would have to explain in what way you are sensitive, 1,2,3,or 4.

[susan_wu]

Thanks, Advoca,

Next time, I'll must rember to explain in what way I'm sensitive in order to avoid my friends misunderstood me.

Now, I also have another question, sorry for always having so many questions.

I thought of a Chinese idiom, which often is used to describe a girl who is easily hurt, delicate, tender and full of sad. One of the most typical examples is "Lin Dai Yu", a dramatis personae in the novel - "Dream of the red chamber" - one of the most famous four Chines novels.

I came across a sentence which is very close to describe her:

" She is a girl of subtle and refined sensibilities."

But I'm still not very satisfied for this sentence. Could you give me some more appropriate sentences?

Thanks a lot.

[advoca]

"She is a girl of subtle and refined sensibilities."

But I'm still not very satisfied for this sentence. Could you give me some more appropriate sentences?
���.

Susan, this is a perfectly good sentence, and I think, fully appropriate to the subject and the context of the passage.

Sensibility is the ability to experience deep feelings and the deep feelings she experiences are subtle and refined.

Subtle here means that the feelings are pleasantly complex and delicate. Refined as it is used here means that her feelings are in good taste and well mannered.

You could say that the girl was able to experience deep feelings, and these feelings were always in good taste and well mannered. (But I think the original says it much better)

[bud]

Susan, was the sample sentence from the same passage where she was described as easily hurt, delicate, tender and full of sadness? If so, then I agree with Advoca that it is an appropriate sentence. But beware.

One of the difficulties in learning a language is that one word can have many meanings. Sometimes the differences are subtle and sometimes they're not. But either way, it can create difficulties for the learner, and even for the native-speaker as well. I think that if the average native-speaker was reading a translation of that passage, they would miss the significance of what the sample sentence really meant. They would likely think that something new was being said with the sample sentence rather than a reinforcement of what was first said.

I would guess that Obelix's definition of 'sensibility' ("You are sensible if you have common sense, wisdom or if you are reasonable, practical and judicious") is the one that most people would have in mind when hearing or using the word. Especially without a context.

In most circumstances (apart from your example), "she is a girl of subtle and refined sensibilities" would imply that she is wise, judicious, etc. That her sensibilities are "refined" might also imply that she has a "classic" sense of the world - maybe new trends and styles don't affect her very much, for example. That her sensibilities are "subtle" means that they are not all immediately noticable. She would be the kind of person that even after you knew her for a while, you find that you keep discovering new apsects of her sensibility that you hadn't noticed before.

So, in your search for a way to say someone is easily hurt, etc., you could say they are "overly sensitive" or "oversensitive." Another good one is "thin-skinned." You could also say "testy" or "touchy," but that is only for informal situations. The last two also differ in that they usually are referring to a temporary mood, not the person's typical personality. "Thin-skinned" and the others are referring to the usual personality.

Finally, your friend said "I'm sensitive" and after a while said "On the other hand, I'm a sensible man." He meant:

1st: He has empathy for another's feelings, problems, etc.

Or...

He is oversensitive.

(Sometimes we say sensitive even though we really mean oversensitive. We especially might do this if we are admitting that we ourselves are oversensitive, or if we are trying to tell an oversensitive person that they are oversensitive.)

2nd: Even though I am sensitive, I am also wise, reasonable, have common sense, etc.

.
.
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That was all rather long and complicated, Susan. I hope it makes sense to you. (or... I hope it is sensible to you.)

[susan_wu]

Thanks very much, advoca, obelix, bud,

It's so surprising for me to get a deep understanding for the word:"sensitive" in such a short time. I also studied a lot of new words from your answers. You are all wonderful teachers. It's you make me come to the forum again and again.

Good Luck!

[bud]

Thank you Susan, It's students like you that makes this a great hangout for us!

(first message might not have made it.)