Listening vs. hearing

listen
intr.v. lis·tened, lis·ten·ing, lis·tens
To make an effort to hear something: listen to the radio; listening for the bell.
To pay attention; heed: “She encouraged me to listen carefully to what country people called mother wit” (Maya Angelou).
n.
An act of listening: Would you like to give the CD a listen before buying it?


hear
v. heard, (hûrd) hear·ing, hears
v. tr.
To perceive (sound) by the ear: Can you hear the signal?
To learn by hearing; be told by others: I heard she got married.

To listen to attentively: Hear what I have to tell you.
To listen to in an official, professional, or formal capacity: heard the last witness in the afternoon.
To listen to and consider favorably: Lord, hear my prayer!
To attend or participate in: hear Mass.


See? There is a difference between listening and hearing. If only people would recognize that difference I would not become so fucking frustrated! If my mother had listened to me 6 weeks ago instead of just hearing sound come out of my mouth we wouldn't be in the mess we are in today. Thank God she listened to the doctor (who, btw, told her the EXACT SAME THING I told her 6 fucking weeks ago!) or we still wouldn't be taking care of the problem correctly.

OK. . .on to the cleaning and bagging and boiling. . .hopefully I will never have to do this again in my life!