In my freshman year in college, I was taking algebra and programming. One day I was doing my homework in my room while my roommate was entering and leaving the room but at the last time she came in to the room and said “Girl, you have to stop studying and go out and have some fun” and I told her, “I am having fun right know”. She answered, “No, you’re not”.

According to the Cambridge dictionary, the word fun means “pleasure, enjoyment, and amusement.” However, if you ask somebody, what does the word fun mean to you? The answer might not be the first. Ultimately, people tend to associate the word fun with a specific activity for example sports, going to the movies, eating; most people would never associate the word fun with doing calculus homework.

When I was eight years old, having fun meant playing Barbies all day-long; years later meant playing soccer all day-long and so on. Through the years, the meaning for the word fun changed.

We are different from one another and we do not like the same things, we have different ways to have fun and we show our emotions in different ways too. Some people cry when they are extremely happy and that is somewhat weird because most people would associate crying with pain. Therefore, if some people are laughing, jumping and screaming that does not necessarily mean they are having fun. In the same way if some people are being quiet, not really laughing that does not necessarily mean they are not having fun…

There are people who enjoy practicing parachuting, an activity where you have to jump out from an airplane located thousands of feet high. For me, that is not fun (I am scare of heights). Having fun, it is related to happiness. If an activity makes you happy, you are having fun.

In Spanish we have and extended meaning for the word fun, for example ”activity or fondness that makes you spend the time in a pleasant way and sometimes works like a hobby” (Real Academy of the Spanish language). If you ask yourself, what does fun really mean? It is a little hard to answer because the answer depends on what you like. It depends on each person.  You need to know what you enjoy doing. So, what are we trying to say when we use the phrase “Have fun!” To a person who is getting ready to go out? The answer would be the same the Cambridge dictionary gives to the meaning of fun. However, when my roommate said “Stop doing that, and have some fun” what was she expecting me to do? An activity she thought was fun or one I thought was fun (doing my programming homework).

In conclusion, before you say have fun, think a little and ask yourself; “Is she enjoying that?” Perhaps that activity is not fun for you, but it is fun for her.