resilience vs buoyancy (2025)

Monicaallred

Senior Member

São Bernardo do C, São Paulo, Brasil

Portuguese - Brazil

  • Sep 23, 2024
  • #1

Hello!

Could someone please confirm if this sentence is correct?
"Student well-being and buoyancy are especially important."

I found it in the online Dictionary <---> but someone from Britain told me it's not right and that I should use 'resilience' instead of 'buoyancy'. What do you think? Is this person right?

Thank you!

< Reference to AI removed (Rule 3). Cagey, moderator >

Last edited by a moderator:

  • The Newt

    Senior Member

    New England

    English - US

    • Sep 23, 2024
    • #2

    "Buoyancy" is a pretty odd word in that context; "resilience" seems more reasonable.

    Monicaallred

    Senior Member

    São Bernardo do C, São Paulo, Brasil

    Portuguese - Brazil

    • Sep 23, 2024
    • #3

    The whole sentence in the Dictionary is "Student well-being and buoyancy are especially important because of the relatively high incidence of depression and suicide." With the rest of the sentence, does the use of 'buoyancy' sound normal?

    S1m0n

    Senior Member

    BC, Canada

    English

    • Sep 23, 2024
    • #4

    Buoyancy is not wrong in this context, but it does employ metaphor where direct speech might make a stronger statement.

    Myridon

    Senior Member

    Texas

    English - US

    • Sep 23, 2024
    • #5

    Being very buoyant (able to float in liquid) would help to prevent them from drowning themselves. resilience vs buoyancy (6)

    kentix

    Senior Member

    English - U.S.

    • Sep 23, 2024
    • #6

    To me it's totally wrong. It sounds like they float in a liquid, the way the sentence is written. Buoyant can be used with people but I don't think buoyancy can. At least, I can't think of a sentence where I would use it.

    Edit:

    Added another sentence at the end.

    User With No Name

    Senior Member

    US English (Texas)

    • Sep 23, 2024
    • #7

    kentix said:

    To me it's totally wrong. It sounds like they float in a liquid, the way the sentence is written. Buoyant can be used with people but I don't think buoyancy can.

    "Student buoyancy" is a thing in the bizarro world of U.S. schools of education.

    kentix

    Senior Member

    English - U.S.

    • Sep 23, 2024
    • #8

    I admit that does sound like bizarro world to me. (I added a sentence to my original post.)

    Roxxxannne

    Senior Member

    American English (New England and NYC)

    • Sep 23, 2024
    • #9

    User With No Name said:

    "Student buoyancy" is a thing in the bizarro world of U.S. schools of education.

    😄 I would never use "student buoyancy" in real life unless I were actually writing something for a school of education to be disseminated only among people in that world. To me a buoyant person is someone who is usually cheerful, maybe more cheerful more often than many other people. I imagine that the person who coined this phrase was thinking about people who "bounce back" after being submerged in despair or troubles and decided that buoyancy was the right word.
    I agree with The Newt. Resilience is likely to be understood, and people won't find it bizarre or funny as we did here.

    Myridon

    Senior Member

    Texas

    English - US

    • Sep 23, 2024
    • #10

    I did a little Googling and the idea seems to be that these students have the skills to "stay afloat" in an educational environment. (The second hit I got was a diving school where it was used literally. resilience vs buoyancy (12))

    Monicaallred

    Senior Member

    São Bernardo do C, São Paulo, Brasil

    Portuguese - Brazil

    • Sep 27, 2024
    • #11

    Does the sentence "I'll have to take stock, go carefully and regain my buoyancy." sound weird to you as well? It's from the Collins Dictionary...

    PaulQ

    Senior Member

    UK

    English - England

    • Sep 27, 2024
    • #12

    In BE, it does. (I agree with the other entries at the link.)

    Myridon

    Senior Member

    Texas

    English - US

    • Sep 27, 2024
    • #13

    It sounds weird to me in AmE (like the person is on a sinking cargo ship deciding what items in the cargo (stock) should be thrown overboard to keep the ship afloat resilience vs buoyancy (16)).

    Last edited:

    Roxxxannne

    Senior Member

    American English (New England and NYC)

    • Sep 27, 2024
    • #14

    It seems weird to me too. The middle of the sentence "..to take stock, go carefully .." is strange in a sentence with no context. "I'll have to regain my buoyancy" is just as meaningful as the original, and less weird.

    C

    Cagey

    post mod (English Only / Latin)

    California

    English - US

    • Sep 27, 2024
    • #15

    What dictionary was the source of the topic sentence, Monicaallred?

    It is difficult to find references to 'student buoyancy' in published texts. It appears that the more usual reference is to academic buoyancy: Academic buoyancy - Wikipedia.

    Academic buoyancy is a type of resilience relating specifically to academic attainment. It is defined as 'the ability of students to successfully deal with academic setbacks and challenges that are ‘typical of the ordinary course of school life (e.g. poor grades, competing deadlines, exam pressure, difficult schoolwork)'.[1] It is, therefore, related to traditional definitions of resilience but allows a narrower focus in order to target interventions more precisely.​

    This still sounds like jargon, and would probably have to be explained in most contexts.

    Monicaallred

    Senior Member

    São Bernardo do C, São Paulo, Brasil

    Portuguese - Brazil

    • Oct 3, 2024
    • #16

    Cagey said:

    What dictionary was the source of the topic sentence, Monicaallred?

    Here is the source Dictionary.com

    Thank you everybody for the help!

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