It is full. Half with liquid and half with air. :-)

(Or you could say that the glass is obviously twice as big as it needs to be if you were an engineer. )

Well I definitely think there are positive and negative people in the world so the glass is just an analogy, not meant to be taken literally.

I've never really understood the analogy. I understand the pessimist thinking it's half empty but shouldn't the optimist think that it's full?

I've never been able to keep straight the difference between metaphor and simile but it's one of those. It's a reference to something completely different to illustrate/demonstrate the point of the person who first used the phrase. It's neither true nor false.

blfenton, Assuming the glass contains water, has a capacity of 8 ounces but currently hold 4 ounces, I took the saying to mean that a pessimist will see the glass as half empty as in "I'm almost out of water", whereas an optimist sees it as half full and would think "I have plenty of water left".

To answer the question, most of the time I see the glass as half full. I'm generally a fairly optimistic person and try to see the positive side of things. There have been times when one catastrophe after another seems to pile on and that will have an affect on how I see the world.

It's kind of a silly way to think about your life. But -- my glass is half full.

When checking my hummingbird bottle, I look to see how "empty" it is.

My 7 year old granddaughter said the glass is both, half empty and half full! Her mother ask the question yesterday.

I see the glass as half full but a friend (always the pessimist) would see it as half empty. I just had to have a new septic system installed and thought, well, it could have been worse as it could have happened in the winter or could have backed up, etc. Hated to pay the price though! :)

I don't worry over it unless it's wine in the glass.

Not only is my glass half full, it is also refillable!

Reminds me of an old far side cartoon where 3 guys are standing looking at a half-filled glass on a table. The first says, "I'm a pessimist. I say the glass is half empty." The second says, "I'm an optimist. I say the glass is half full." The third says, "I'm an optometrist and I say what's the difference."

Hahaha

It's a demonstration of how blinded/ignorant "optimists" often become. The people who see said glass as half full are not looking at the true picture. Not unlike the three blind "people" touching different parts of an elephant and describing what they feel. People taking that position probably want the feel-good feeling of looking at what they consider to be "the bright side" where the rational person knows the glass is, in fact, full, unless vacuum sealed (and arguably full even in that case) and the "pessimist" is derided for acknowledging that it may need a refill. And the hypocrisy comes out then too since they deride the ones who see the true picture and claim to never say anything unless it's "nice" unless it makes them feel superior.

I see myself as neither an optimist nor pessimist. I see myself as pragmatic. I think the full/empty question as a waste of time. The question is whether it needs a refill of the content of your choice. Or maybe there's another consideration that needs more attention than arguing over optimist/pessimist. Perhaps the glass has a leak. The optimists and pessimists will argue full/empty while a pragmatic person will fix the situation of the leak.

I'm both. This year, though, I am definitely a half full kinda gal. The only thing that's kept me going is that the glass is refillable.

Oh, for cryin out loud, lol, cynic!

I remember my answer to this question when I was a cocky know it all teenager and, truthfully, it hasn't really changed.

I used to say that I was neither an optimist, nor a pessimist; I'm a realist. Whether it was half empty or half full depended on the situation. If it's a glass I'm trying to fill than it is half full, if it is something I'm draining, it is half empty.

I don't believe having a negative outlook on things is good, nor is walking around viewing the world through rose colored lenses.

Cynic, you may think your glass is full but I want mine topped off with the rest of my drink! Lol

At one level it is a trite cliche intended to illustrate the meaning of two antonyms trying to make the point that a person's outlook on life can color their perceptions of the world around them, but also intended to reinforce the propaganda embodied in the connotations of each of the words: where optimism is considered "good" and pessimism is considered "bad". At this basic level there is some truth in the saying. Given the same set of life circumstances you can choose to focus on the positive elements or on the negative elements, and if you choose to focus on the positive elements you may be happier.

However at another level there are the persons viewing the glass filled to approximately 50% capacity and there is the person who placed the glass there, who is offering the choice to view it as half-full of half-empty hoping to keep those viewing the glass wondering and arguing over their beliefs as they pertain to the simple fact in front of them. Which is an effort distract those viewing the glass from wondering where the other 50% is.

If one took the view that the glass was half empty, and then stood on his head to view it, what would it be?

"If one took the view that the glass was half empty, and then stood on his head to view it, what would it be?"

A reverse image of half empty.

Or for us over-achievers...If the glass could hold more, I could do more.

This saying has always bugged me. The answer is: it's a half-glass of water (or whatever liquid you choose).

If it's something I like to drink, it's half-empty. If it's something I don't enjoy, it's half full. :)

Topping-up ... usually gets expensive.

Imagine, though, how you'd feel ...

... if your name were Baker and your friends wondered whether you were "half-baked"?

ole joyfuelled

I'm a half-empty, then I work on filling it back up. :)