Hmm.. We have to write a post on gracious. It did not even ring a bell. My mind was so empty when I found out that I would have to write a post on the word 'gracious'. The situation was worst when I heard that I would have to write about 400 to 500 words!! Oh no.. Well, here goes my entry..

Ok.. Based on the Longman Active Study Dictionary, also known as, my dictionary, gracious basically meant,
1) Behaving in a polite, kind, and generous way.
2) Gracious living
3) (Goodness gracious) spoken old-fashioned used to express surprise
Hmm.. After finding out the meaning of gracious, I think that it is a little easier now to write about gracious. Even though it sounds easy, it may not be that easy as it sounds.

The word gracious reminds me of the word graceful. This reminds me of the Chinese dancers and the Malay dancers as they dance gracefully and this causes them to be gracious. After remembering all of this, it also reminds me of my friend named Grace. Her attitude of being very kind to others makes her even more gracious and I think that her name really suits her. She is also from Chinese dance and this makes her even more graceful.

As I have mentioned it earlier, gracious can also be said with this another word: goodness. This becomes 'goodness gracious' which is actually said when people feels shocked, surprise, dismay, or alarm, as in Goodness gracious! Both goodness and gracious originally alluded to the good (or grace) of God, but these colloquial (Characteristic of or appropriate to the spoken language or to writing that seeks the effect of speech; informal) expressions, which date from the 1700s, are not considered either vulgar or impiously irreverent. (according to http://dictionary.reference.com/)

Gracious also meant gracious living. Gracious living meant having the kind of expensive comfort and beauty that only rich people can afford. This also meant that they have a wonderful life as they already have what is needed without even asking for it. They already have something that is inessential but conducive to pleasure and comfort or something that is expensive or very hard to obtain by normal people.

As gracious also meant being polite, an example of this is to give way. This can also meant by giving up your seats, to people that really need it like a pregnant lady, small children and also the elderly as they are not that stable, in the bus or in the mass rapid transit. We can also help the people that really need a hand like for example, help someone to carry stuffs that could not be managed by only one pair of hands. By doing this, we are actually practising graciousness in our country and this is a very good thing to do as we are promoting our country to tourists. So, when the tourist go back to their countries, they might say positive things about our country, thus making our country have a positive look by non-Singaporeans.

The antonym of gracious is ungracious. Ungracious basically meant that there is a lack of social graciousness which also meant being rude. These are the things or qualities that people should not have or should not practise in them. This might also bring negative thinking to the tourists and might end up disgracing our own country which is definitely unwanted by most or all of the people.

With this comments, i really have nothing more to say. So, i end my comments of the word 'gracious' here. Well, the total words i have written, not including the first and the last paragraph is 511. Phew.. really glad that i managed to do it.