Want vs. Desire

[CharleyH]

Someone recently said to me that there wasn't a difference. I think there is a great difference between the two. Thoughts?

 

[cheerful_deviant]

I think it's a matter of degree.

I want to have a peice of cake for a snack. It's something minor, an everyday thing.

I desire a certain beautiful woman (whom shall remain nameless).

 

[Guest]

I think it's a matter of degree.

I want to have a peice of cake for a snack. It's something minor, an everyday thing.

I desire a certain beautiful woman (whom shall remain nameless).

i know, dahlink, so many people desire me.


BBBBAAAAHHHHHAAAhhhhhhaaaa...


seriously, i agree with you. want is something tangible...desire, on the other hand, (to me) is harder to come by, perhaps less tangible.

 

[cloudy]

i know, dahlink, so many people desire me.

You know it, O Ebil Bagina!

seriously, i agree with you. want is something tangible...desire, on the other hand, (to me) is harder to come by, perhaps less tangible.

Yep.

I want a new car.

I want a bigger house.

What I desire, on the other hand....

 

[Guest]

You know it, O Ebil Bagina!





Yep.

I want a new car.

I want a bigger house.

What I desire, on the other hand....

i love being an ebil bagina!

hey, could you want, want and desire something at the same time and make it a trifecta of ...need?

 

[Guest]

I don't know. I think both words can hold the same heat. For instance, I can say "I want you" in a way that could melt panties off and it would not have the same effect as me saying "I desire you".

Want is a "let's fuck", to desire's, "let's make love".

 

[Liar]

Someone recently said to me that there wasn't a difference. I think there is a great difference between the two. Thoughts?

I think there is not. Having the munchies - wanting - desiring - needing... semantics slide from person to person and situation to situation anyway, so it means different things from day to day.

In what lies the difference, for you? And is the meaning really that static, to say for sure?

 

[Guest]

I think there is not. Having the munchies - wanting - desiring - needing... semantics slide from person to person and situation to situation anyway, so it means different things from day to day.

In what lies the difference, for you? And is the meaning really that static, to say for sure?

thats why i put in the qualifier of (to me)
its subjective

 

[Liar]

I don't know. I think both words can hold the same heat. For instance, I can say "I want you" in a way that could melt panties off and it would not have the same effect as me saying "I desire you".

Want is a "let's fuck", to desire's, "let's make love".

Uh-huh, if there's any difference for me, it's that 'desire' is more detached and intellectual, and 'want' is more primal.


"By gosh and golly, I truly do desire that fine specimen of hiney. I will commence wooing strategies immiediately."

"Me want dat ass. Me go get club. Me come back."

 

[Guest]

Uh-huh, if there's any difference for me, it's that 'desire' is more detached and intellectual, and 'want' is more primal.


"By gosh and golly, I truly do desire that fine specimen of hiney. I will commence wooing strategies immiediately."

"Me want dat ass. Me go get club. Me come back."

i want to see this:
"Me want dat ass. Me go get club. Me come back."
in your title.

*sigh*
i want to hug you 'toight'.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

I would say desire has more to do with passions and aesthetics. Desire is calculated, thought out, dreamt about, heartfelt.

Wants are somewhat controllable, more easily forgotten, interchangeable.

 

[4degrees]

i desire . . . is something i might say if i were trying to be funny. but writing about my desire is different, i can say my desire for him burns deep in my gut until smoke comes out my ears...wait. that's not what i meant.

i wanna fuck. i want you now. my want for him was massive.

i don't know. it would kinda make me go 'huh?' if we were kissing and his hand was shoved down my pants, and he broke the kiss to look in my eyes and say 'i desire you'.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'd use either one on a story, but if I were speaking to or about someone- I'd say "want".

I want you.

 

[TE999]

Want...is but a fleeting urge...often easily satiated.

Desire, on the other hand...is a streetcar.

 

[only_more_so]

Someone recently said to me that there wasn't a difference. I think there is a great difference between the two. Thoughts?

I definately think there are differences in the words. I think in general "desire" is a stronger term than "want," and implies an overtly sexual or at least sensual aspect that "want" doesn't.

Also, there are uses for "want" that can't be said with desire. "He was wanting," means that he was lacking something. There are of course other examples, and some ways want can't be used to replace desire.

 

[Nirvanadragones]

I don't know. I think both words can hold the same heat. For instance, I can say "I want you" in a way that could melt panties off and it would not have the same effect as me saying "I desire you".

Want is a "let's fuck", to desire's, "let's make love".

Perfect description. I like!

I want to be fucked.

I desire to be made love to.

 

[Pure]

neo said
neo not have the same effect as me saying "I desire you".

nirv recommends

nirv I desire to be made love to.

not around here! neither sounds like speech, except from an old fashioned romance novel!

4degrees, i would agree with; i don't see 'desire' as a verb to be applied to another, outside a very overwritten love letter.

OTOH, the nouns seem a little different "These are my wants" vs. "These are my desires." Still the last sounds very literary.
Somehow "wants" sounds more primal. "My wants include lots of sex." "My greatest desire is to see an end to this war."

 

[Guest]

not around here! neither sounds like speech, except from an old fashioned romance novel!

Agreed. As a poet/writer/lover, I don't say or write either, "desire" or "make love". It was an example of tone and mood the word "desire" holds for me.

 

[Guest]

I want to be fucked.

yeah??

 

[ABSTRUSE]

yeah??

*AHEM*

 

[Guest]

*AHEM*

okay so we both want to fuck vana.

see who can get to her first

 

[ABSTRUSE]

okay so we both want to fuck vana.

see who can get to her first

I've missed you, you bitch.

 

[gauchecritic]

Back in the 60's ( I think) Oxfam (possibly) ran a campaign called "War on Want". I think it probably coloured my perspective on the word and allied it to need rather than desire. (War on Need doesn't work at all, much like War on Terrrr)

There's only a subtle distinction between want and desire, described in my mind the following way.

I want lots of money.

I desire a 1972 MK1 Triumph Stag.

 

[Grushenka]

There is a great difference between the two words, especially in their lexicological history (at least in English).

WANT originally meant a lack, a deficiency, deprivation. Its use became more common to simply state mundane wants: food, Mommy, money, a fuck, etc.

DESIRE was always, lexicologically, linked to feelings and emotions, yearnings, cravings; especially to things that would bring pleasure or other heightened satisfactions. As a noun it is a synonym for 'lust'. As a verb it implies a strong wish, a more than usual want of something (or someone).

 

[Alexandra1979]

I think it's a matter of degree.

I want to have a peice of cake for a snack. It's something minor, an everyday thing.

I desire a certain beautiful woman (whom shall remain nameless).

Similar here. Except the one I most desire is a guy. He knows who he is.