P for Promise

You don't have to do the things you promise to do. You always have a choice, a lot of choices, to be precise. I always choose to keep my promises, which is why I don't make them unless I am 99% sure that I will do it. I know I shouldn't expect others to treat promises the same way. It probably makes me an egocentric person that I want people to keep their promises. It annoys the hell out of me when people through the word around like it has no meaning. That's not right. I am sure that they simply assign a different meaning to this word than I do. In fact, I don't even know what the dictionary has to say about this. Let me check. (*Goes off to find the dictionary*) All right, I found my Collins English Dictionary.

Promise vb -ising, -ised 1 to say that one will definitely do or not do something: I promise I'll have it finished by the end of the week 2 to undertake to give (something to someone): he promised me a car for my birthday 3 to show signs of; seem likely: she promises to be a fine singer 4 to assure (someone) of the certainty of something: everything is fine, I promise you ▻n 5 an undertaking to do or not to do something 6 indication of future success: a young player who shows great promise [Latin promissum a promise]

As it turns out, the actual meaning of the word is to definitely do (or not do) something, so my definition has been right all along. Too bad it makes zero difference at the given moment.