Morals Versus Morale

 
Words of the Episode: Morals vs. Morale

• Morals
  • Definition: Standards of behavior or principles of right/wrong by which a person lives; also lessons drawn from stories.
  • Etymology: From Latin mos/moris → morales → moralia (used by St. Gregory in his exposition on Job) → Middle English.
  • Can be good or bad, but always refers to a guiding code.
• Morale
  • Definition: Confidence, discipline, and outlook of a person or group at a given time (e.g., workplace morale).
  • Etymology: From French moral in the mid‑18th century; respelled morale in English to preserve stress on the final syllable.
  • No root connection to morals—it is its own word, with earliest English usage around 1752.

👉 Key Takeaway: Despite sounding similar, the two words have completely different origins. “Morale” was modified in English to avoid confusion with “moral.”

Discussion

• Both hosts were close on definitions, but one assumed they shared a common root—turns out they do not.
• They explored how confusing it would be in speech if a leader said “group morals are high” versus “group morale is high,” since both phrases make sense but mean very different things.
• Reflection on homonyms/homophones in English—words that sound/look the same but differ in meaning. Unlike typical homonyms (e.g., “bat” the animal vs. “bat” in baseball), morale was respelled precisely to avoid that category.

Personal Anecdotes About Misunderstanding

• Jumper cables story:
  • During a Cub Scout campout, one leader asked if anyone had jumper cables.
  • Host assumed it was for a skit prop (since they were prepping for skits), but the leader’s truck battery was actually dead.
  • Quick laugh followed, then real jumper cables solved the issue—illustrating how context can cause misinterpretation.
• Name misunderstanding:
  • One host admitted to mishearing someone’s name due to an accent, thinking it was something odd, only to learn later it had an important cultural meaning.
  • Tied into the larger lesson of how cultural background and preconceived ideas affect how we interpret words.

Closing Reflection

• Clear, precise speech matters to reduce misunderstandings.
• People bring different contexts, cultural baggage, and assumptions into conversations.
• Full-circle conclusion: good morals help ensure right speech and actions, while good moralekeeps groups positive and functional.

Final Question Raised:

• Which is more important, morals or morale?
  • Answer given: Morals come above morale—though morale strongly affects group energy, it does not outweigh a person’s guiding moral code.

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Any views expressed on this podcast are those solely of the hosts and is for entertainment purposes only. None of the content is medical advice or financial advice.

Special thanks to Tim Wright aka CoLD SToRAGE for his permission to use the song Operatique.

Transcript

I Hate Talking: 0:29

Welcome to episode 77 of I Hate Talking. Hi everyone. So today's word or phrase is two words that I've been thinking about and wondering if they have the same root word. So those two words are morals and morale. OK, hm, morals and morale. So are you getting the definitions confused? Well, in my head I'm trying to say that, I guess I have to say them out loud or something. So morals would be like, he has good morals. He chooses well, right? Chooses proper. And then what was the other one? Morale, morale. Yeah, so morale is more like an attitude, right? Like the morale in the workplace is bad, like the attitude or the feelings overall, one way or another, right? Yeah, I think so. I would have similar definitions, so morals being some sort of inner scruples by which you behave, and it may not always be quote unquote good. You could have bad morals, so there's still some sort of standard or way of behaving that is intrinsic to that person. And that is their moral code or their morals, and it can be good according to society or absolute truth or it could be bad. But nonetheless, they are morals just the same. OK, yeah, I agree. And then morale, I think, like you said, would be an attitude, a perhaps outlook on a particular situation or scenario, sort of, again, I think getting at the intrinsic feeling that one has towards that particular scenario or situation. And again, that could be bad morale, so you could have low morale where their outlook is not very good. And the feeling about a situation is poor versus good or high morale, where you have a positive outlook on the situation or the scenario that you're dealing with. Right, and it's tricky as um it's interesting you brought this up, because in my head when I say it, like the story had a good moral, like it had a good lesson, you learned something or taught something, but it sounds very similar to morale, morale. Morale, I think they're actually very different. So that's what I'm gonna say. So you think they're different root words? Yes, OK, they sound alike, but they're different. So I've not looked these up. I've been thinking about them a little bit in terms of how I would define them without any consultation from any dictionaries or reference material, but we'll go ahead and look up the official definitions and then look at the etymology of morals and morale. So I am of the opinion that it's probably the same root word, but we'll get to that in a moment. We'll check the official definitions first. OK. -- One of us is going to be -- right, I suppose so. So the definition of moral, according to our favorite Oxford language dictionary, can be used as a noun regarding a lesson. So you did mention that, that the story would have a good moral or lesson, and that lesson, it says, quote, is especially one concerning what is right or prudent that can be derived from a story, a piece of information, or an experience, end quote. And then the second noun is a person's standards of behaviors or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do. Yep, OK, so I think we're right on that. All right, so we'll check now the definition of morale. Which is the same exact spelling in English, but just the letter E added at the end. And again, our favorite Oxford language dictionary defines that as a noun that says the confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline of a person or group at a particular time. OK, yeah, similar to what we're saying like the attitude of a group or feeling, OK. All right, so we'll do the same order for etymology. So, first looking at moral, that comes from the Latin mos more moss, and that then became used within Latin as just morales and moralia and then came to be used in the late Middle English. And then it seems like this particular word was. Especially used within a Latin work by Saint Gregory that was called Moralia, and it was an exposition on the book of Job. So that particular author used that. Exact phrase moralia, which was taken from the Latin term morales as sort of the description of how Joe behaved in that particular story, -- I -- suppose. Yeah, like a lesson that we can learn, I guess, right? Precisely. So now looking at the etymology of morale. It comes from the French, apparently exclusively, and it is spelled the exact same as moral in French. So M O R A L, then in the mid 18th century became in English morale, and it says here that it was specifically respelled to preserve the final stress in pronunciation. So the French would have said that particular spelling, M O R A L as morale. So in English, they added that E so that that particular stress on the final syllable was preserved. OK, interesting. Yeah, that makes sense, because even once you said it's French, I'm like, oh yeah, because of the ending, that's interesting they added it later on so that we would not lose the emphasis. And according to Merriam-Webster's, it apparently just came out of French by itself. There is no really previous etymology to speak of. Well, -- so I -- won. You did. Nice. So very different words and you're correct, very different sources. And in fact, I guess they had to add the e to morale so that it was not confused with moral. Interesting. So it doesn't have a root word or anything. It's a strictly created word in French. Is that what I understand it to be? Apparently, it says here that 1752 was the first known usage of the word morale. And before that, it did not have any particular historical etymology recorded, and that's really all that I suppose we know about it based on what the dictionary editors have recorded for this particular word's etymology. Cool, that's so interesting, and I'm glad I won. Indeed, so. I am surprised because I expected it to be the same root word cause it has a little bit of the same aspect in my mind where morals is behavior and morale is outlook that perhaps could impact your behavior. But I stand corrected, they are apparently completely unrelated. Interesting, and I think, I mean, I know it's not a hom a homiment ho ho. How do you say that word? Hama man. Ho -- homonym -- homonym. Oh, I get, I'm getting caught up with that in the middle there. Anyways, it's not right, but it sounds like it. It reminds me of like 8 and 8 back. The animal or bat in baseball. So it's interesting that in English, we have a lot of those things here and here. Either they spell are spelled the same or sound the same. So it's interesting that we took the next step to distinguish moral and morale. Indeed, yeah, often, right? I mean, they just leave it and you just have to figure it out by context or whatnot. So it's interesting that they didn't do that this time. Yeah, we had an episode quite a long time ago about synonyms and homonyms and antonyms, I think. I don't remember what the title of that was. Maybe we'll have to find that episode and link it in the show notes, but that was. Maybe even from our single digit episodes, I don't remember, -- but -- this wouldn't be a ho ho oh no homament. I can't I say it tonight? Eminem. Yes, this isn't that though, right? This is not a homonym because they specifically added the e to the end of morale so that it would not be confused and Both probably would have been pronounced moral and you had to use context to figure out if they were talking about one's personal beliefs in terms of what behavior is acceptable versus the particular outlook of a person or group based on a situation. Yeah, I'm glad they did because just in context, like nowadays speech, it would be confusing if you read something or if you heard a CEO say the group morals are really good. You're like, wait, they do really good stuff. They do a lot of charity work, or they're happy people, and they're upbeat, you know, so it means something different when he says the group's morale is good. That is very true. I could see how it would be very confusing from context even to determine which it was, right, because both of those make sense, but they mean very different things. Very true. So, that is our word or phrase of the episode, moral and morale, and I think we were pretty close on the definitions, not too far off on that, but pretty, I was anyway, pretty far off on the supposed etymology because I would have expected it to be something from the Latin that described feelings and personal outlooks on behavior and. The possibility of success for different situations that 1 may find them in. Right, well, it makes sense that, like you were saying, you assume the root word is the same. So when professionally or personally, have you mistaken something? For either the same word or the same meaning or the same intention. But they were completely different. Hm, that's an interesting question. Nothing immediately comes to mind. I'm sure there have been instances. That this has happened either by something that I've said that was misinterpreted or something that somebody else said that I did not completely understand appropriately based on their context or their word usage, and it probably could have been either scenario where they used a completely different word than what they intended or like we were talking about some word that was similar in nature or a homonym. Mhm. But I cannot think of one single specific instance off the top of my head. OK. What about you? Yeah, I'm sure I've got tons. Give me a sec. Well, there is one that's not exactly. The same word or a different word used, but it was more of a contextual thing where I completely misunderstood what a person was asking. So this particular scenario happened at a campout for Cub Scouts and This was one of our overnight weekend campouts that we did, and there's a number of different activities, so we have games, we have campfire, we have skits, we have songs, etc. etc. And one of the other den leaders came up to me and asked the group of us that were standing there if anyone had jumper cables. And this was right about the same time that we were preparing for our skits and making sure that all the scouts knew their lines and had the appropriate things that they needed to perform the skits. And I thought he was asking because he needed it for a prop for the skit. I was like, do you need it for a skit? And then he replied, No, my truck's dead. Oh no, at least he told you versus like being like nope, and then walking away and having to call Triple A or something because you did have them, right? Yes, I went and got the jumper cables and he was able to successfully start his vehicle that the battery had died in, but I completely missed the context because we were doing our skit planning and I thought he just needed a prop, but he actually legitimately needed jumper cables for their specific intended purpose to jump his battery. Did he seem confused when you asked that? No, he was pretty quick on the uptake that he responded with the fact that his truck was dead. Yeah. Cause yeah, you definitely don't want a bunch of little kids playing with those wires, especially in the dirt and stuff, like, it's even like, I don't want to give that for a prop. But also why it's interesting that he would, to your defense, you guys were all working on your skits at that time. And he probably didn't need his vehicle, like you guys weren't going anywhere. So it's interesting that he even noticed his vehicle was dead at that point. So after that, how did you guys proceed? Was there any like awkwardness or was it like y'all laughed it off, or how did that go? Yeah, I think everybody had a brief laugh and then we went and got the jumper cables and I gave it to him and he was able to take care of what needed to be taken care of and return them posthaste, and that was it. Did you feel any like embarrassment or any like, oh, whoops, I misread it? Or not really. Not in this particular situation because it was more of a Light banter and not necessarily a serious situation per se. So, in that particular scenario, then there was no particular embarrassment in that case. I feel like there's a lot of times for me that I get embarrassed or ashamed, and I think our dynamic for us is often I misunderstand something or people misunderstand me. And then you end up being like the mediator. Like I'll leave something and then I'll say something about it later, and then you have to like explain the context, or like, I'm like, oh, I missed that. I didn't understand what they meant. OK, so I'm not gonna say the name because 11 big thing I teach my kids is we don't tease people or like make fun of names, that's very personal and cultural, so I wouldn't say that. But there was one that comes to my mind for us relatively recently that happened and I misunderstood what this individual's accent, what his name was. And I didn't say anything, because luckily over the years I've learned to try not to put my foot in my mouth as much as I used to. But I remember asking you afterwards, like, his name is blah blah blah, and you were like, no, and I just completely was like, oh, like it went over my head that like, I just thought it was such an odd name, but it was my misunderstanding of him. So I think that kind of happens a lot in conversations because everybody has their own culture, their own background, and then you go into conversations with other people. And we're burning, whether you try, you know, some people are better at it than others. But no matter how good you are, you still are bringing your background and your preconceived ideas into any conversation you have. So then I think it's hard to know when to hold your opinions or thoughts, maybe, or judge or do a double take or whatnot. So then what you're saying, I guess, in a way is that you need good morals in order to speak and interpret other people's speech appropriately. So that you don't hurt the morale. There you go, look at that full circle. Yes, because even if you don't agree with their morals, like this person's name. It threw me for a loop because I instantly thought of something else, like, wow, why would you name your child that? But it actually had a good meaning when we found out later about it. So even though I felt like my morals told me, oh, don't do that. There was background that I didn't know, and they actually had good morals for their name. That's true. So, yeah, I guess maybe perhaps I will reflect on this particular question that you posed at the start of our topic after our word or phrase section to see if I can think of any other particular times that there has been a particular word or context that has been misunderstood either when I was speaking or when other people were speaking to me. But again, nothing comes immediately to mind. But I also think that it probably does happen frequently, and maybe that's why I don't particularly remember these things is that they sort of get. Categorized and filed away as things to avoid in the future and that helps me be more precise with my particular speech as well as perhaps be a little bit more understanding to others in terms of how they are speaking if there's perhaps like you said, different cultural backgrounds, perhaps different words that they use on a more regular basis that may not match my own. Yeah, I agree. There's certain things that come to my mind I can think of instantly. From my past that will bring up like shame or a lesson I learned from it. But there's not that many. But were those things in your past based on actions or words of speech? I feel like most were words that either I didn't come across properly or I said something after someone's actions. I'm like, oh, like I misread the situation. Well, there you go. So I guess it's through talking that we begin the journey to understanding, but that talking needs to be with precise speech that is properly understood based on context and words that are used. And we all can have good morals and good morale. From it. Yeah, I like good morale. It's hard when people don't have good morale. Which is more important though, morale or morals? For an individual, I think. Morals is better. But Man, and this isn't impact you, so I think it's different that I guess we could have talked about this for a long while because I think it's different. I don't think other people's morale affects you as much, but it definitely affects me. When I'm with like Debbie Downers or people that are low energy or very negative, it definitely impacts me and bums me out a lot. And on the contrast, when I'm with people that are happy or think positively. I'm much more positive and upbeat. That's true. So perhaps that is something that we can get into in our next episode, episode 78, or perhaps you, our listeners would like to share a particular story or anecdote where you had a particular scenario that a specific word was used that was taken out of context or maybe it was a homonym and it was completely misunderstood. But to answer that question simply for the end of this episode. Morals above all morale. No questions. OK. So, from your friends at I Hate Talking, until next time, remember, it is only through talking that we begin the journey to understanding.