According to dictionary.com a “thing” is described as an idea, entity, or quality perceived, known, or thought to have its own existence. While this definition is very accurate, the term “thing” seems quite generic. Many objects and ideas can be described as things, but once one is consciously aware and educated about the actual object; wouldn’t one want to use its label to avoid confusion? After our discussion about the term “thing” in Philosophy Class, just for fun (and out of sheer boredom during my 8-5 job) I decided to tally up how many times I used the word “thing” to describe various objects during the day. It’s quite interesting how that word just seems to slip in, even when you know what the object you have temporarily labeled as a “thing” is actually called. For example, even though I know what a pen is, when I was thinking on the spot I said to myself, “This thing is running out of ink.” For this particular example, due to the context clues one might be able to narrow down the possibility that I am referring to a pen, but due to the vagueness of the word “thing”, someone might think I am talking about a computer printer, thus making the word “thing” misleading. Therefore, since I am aware of what a pen is, wouldn’t it make sense to replace the generic term “thing” with the word pen? I am now starting to view the using the term “thing” as being lazy.