Lesson 1 in jiayiology - Surprised vs Shocked

Here's something I've realised, many people confuse the words surprised and shocked. Many people think they are the same and use them wrongly. Although they are similar, they are also very different!

Surprised - Has positive connotations. Used when you are happy, e.g. "I was pleasantly surprised when I scored full marks for my math test." or "I am surprised that you bought me such a nice present".

Shocked - Has negative connotations. Used when you are NOT happy, e.g. "I was shocked that I had failed the science test." or "When I heard that he broke his leg I was so shocked that I was speechless."

Haha, lately I've been hearing a lot of people say things like "I'M SO SHOCKED, I JUST WON A CAR." and I would always think automatically, "It's not shocked.. it's surprised!"

I guess people always used shocked, because shocked seems to carry a more "I can't believe it" and "I'm speechless" feel. But I guess we could always use "stunned" instead! To tell the truth I think stunned has negative connotations too, but not as negative as shocked!

Or we can always just say "I'm ASTOUNDED"! (positive connotation!)

Let's expand our vocab!

Stay tuned for more lessons on JIAYIOLOGY! =)