When we say “procedure”, we immediately think about the doctors or waiting in front of the office of the official. There is longing and a feeling that we are in the world of Franz Kafka's works, where the wait is eternal, and the hero’s affairs are hopeless. But we are ready to protect the word from an unfair and too gloomy interpretation. Therefore, we will consider what a procedure is and discuss the details.
Value
Of course, the word blows with formality. Every time, going to the institution, we need to go through the procedure. For example, we go to the bank to withdraw money or check the interest that is accrued on our savings. We have to go to the bank, press the button, get the number in the queue, wait and ask the operator what interests us. This is the usual procedure, it is almost inevitable.
Why are we so obsessed with officiality? An explanatory dictionary immediately comes to mind. Let's see what it says about the object of study:
- The official order of actions, implementation, discussion of something (book).
- A separate session of physiotherapy (for example, bath, shower, massage), hardening, body care.
It turns out that there is either a medical sense of the concept, or official. But is it? It seems that linguistic practice involves a wider range of meanings of the word “procedure”.
Origin
To reveal the true meaning of the word, we need to look into the depths of centuries and see the truth there, which is stored under the veil of time. Simply put, open the etymological dictionary. Without its data, the next section with synonyms will be incomprehensible, so we’ll slightly get ahead of the events.
For those who doubt it is Latin or French, let's say: borrowing from French, but in the basis, of course, Latin. There is a French word procédure, it is derived from the Latin proceder, which means "move forward."
For the modern ear, the definition seems strange, because with us the procedure is more like moving in a circle. Such a view is possible if you look at the world with eyes tired of everyday worries: each procedure resembles running in a circle. But if you think about it, then thanks to the procedure we are really moving forward, for example, we get money in the same bank as a result, that is, we achieve the result. Therefore, the word is not so terrible in its foundation, but we need to rest more.
Process and other synonyms
Once it became clear that everything is not so bad, you can go to synonyms for the word "procedure". And here a surprise would await the reader, if we had not yet figured out the origin of the word. So, the list:
- order;
- operation;
- event;
- session;
- ceremony;
- process;
- ritual.
All synonyms that are on the list are not in doubt, yes, even the “ritual" does not bother. After all, a ritual is not only a church or religious word, but if interpreted more broadly, it is the order of things, the established order of actions. The process could be bewildering, but after turning to the etymological dictionary, this cannot happen. As you can see, “procedure” is a multifaceted word that cannot be simply taken and credited unambiguously in one of the departments, official or unofficial. After all, it is sometimes found in poetry, for example, in V.S. Vysotsky.
Established order of things
Life, as stated a little earlier, is full of rituals. No, not that many suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder, it's about another. A person gets up, brushes his teeth, gets ready, goes to work, does about the same thing every day, returns. Then he spends time at home, plus or minus, the same every day. Thus, everyday life, on the one hand, is good, and on the other hand, turns our life into a procedure, and this saddens some. And those who do not have a well-established everyday life, grieve over its absence. Man himself does not know what he wants.
Is this all for what? To the fact that outwardly it may seem that the ritual or procedure is meaningless. But this is not so. Rituals tell us that everything is in order, everything is in the usual way, and the procedure, since somewhere inside contains movement forward, allows our life to go to the goal.