What did Martin Luther King mean when he said, "All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be understaken with painstaking excellence."

Question

anonymous · Answer

go to the history dept.

e.mccormick · Answer

Why?  They also teach MLK in English.... or they did when I took it.  If he asked the historical significance, I would say history.  For base meaning, that could be either.  But how I would answer it depended on which class it was in.

Think about the language used.  Look up the meaning of each word you are unsure of.  Linguistically, modifiers can be of great importance.  If I say there is danger vs grave danger, the meaning is different in degree.  However, if I say there is a unique danger, I am pointing out some odd feature and not modifying the degree.  Apply this sort of reasoning to "painstaking excellence" and see how the word painstaking is being used to modify excellence.

Any words you get stuck on, ask about those.  The meaning should be clear with a dictionary definition, but sometimes the application makes things tricky.  This is especially true if something is an idiom or being done allegorically.