'mood' Vs 'temper'?

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Mehrgan

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Hi,
Could anyone please tell me what the difference is? I hear that temper is a bad mood. Does that suggest that temper is negative in itself? (then, how about sweet-tempered?)


Thanks.
 

bhaisahab

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Hi,
Could anyone please tell me what the difference is? I hear that temper is a bad mood. Does that suggest that temper is negative in itself? (then, how about sweet-tempered?)


Thanks.
"A temper" (noun) is a bad mood. "Sweet-tempered" is an adjective. "Temper" can also be a verb. Look them up in a dictionary.
 

birdeen's call

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"Temper" as a noun may not mean bad mood. One can have an even temper or a good temper. (One can lose one's temper.)

A couple of quotations:
Wonderful, what weeks of flight can do for a naturally mild temper.
Peter S. Beagle, Quarry, 2004
Keeping my hands entwined with hers, I told her about the funeral, recounting the eulogium and the remarks of the clergyman on Grandfather's excellent temper, his scholarly reputation, his liberality.
Deanna Raybourn, The dead travel fast, 2010
I ordered the farmer's special: three pancakes, three eggs, a side of scrapple. (In Lancaster County, appetite trumps diplomas.) Beulah asked for coffee-no sugar, no cream-and, as an afterthought, two eggs. Waiting for the food, she barely spoke. Shyness around an unfamiliar man? Maybe shame? Or the meek temper of Gelassenheit. It's the personal submission the Amish strive for-self-denial for community's sake -- and a lack of it was Beulah's supposed crime.
Michael Lowenthal, An expert in excommunication, 2002

"Temper" is however far more often used to mean bad mood than just mood.
 

TheParser

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Hi,
Could anyone please tell me what the difference is? I hear that temper is a bad mood. Does that suggest that temper is negative in itself? (then, how about sweet-tempered?)


Thanks.


***** A NON-TEACHER's COMMENT *****


(1) I agree that usually "temper" has a negative connotation.

(2) For example, I know someone who loses his temper quite

quickly. Sometimes when he goes to a store (where, for example,

the sales associates -- a nice term for "clerks" -- are rude), I will

often say to him:

"Watch your temper." ( = Don't let those clerks make you angry.)

I would never say: Don't lose your mood. (That would sound

ridiculous.)

Respectfully yours,


James
 

Tdol

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There are some exceptions like even-tempered.
 
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