In German, one says that decisions are “met” (Entscheidungen treffen). I’ve been thinking about how this suggests a very different mental process from the American English, where we usually say we “make a decision,” or perhaps “come to a decision” — but we certainly don’t “meet” them. The German can be read to suggest that the decision itself, or some other power in the world, is meeting us halfway. It’s a reassuring notion in a sense, even as it seems to remove a little of our autonomous decision-making ability. What if decisions are not solely ours to make, but rather ours to meet? It reminds me of friends of mine who talk about “listening to the Universe.” It’s as though you’re not choosing freely from a wide-open range of options; instead you’re taking in information, including your preferences/will, and arriving at a point at which these key factors meet.
Then there’s the British English “take a decision,” which is another story. From the American English perspective, this sounds like you’re really either receiving a decision from the outside world, or perhaps taking a decision as one would take a number–you’re choosing to do it, but only in a very mechanical sense, in order to achieve some other end (getting served at the bakery, say). Again, the element of world-making or life-shaping that comes to mind when we talk about “making” decisions is minimized. (Although at least as far as making and taking decisions goes, I’ve read that in British English circumstance may also be relevant–decisions are “taken” when there is a pre-determined set of options, whereas one “makes” a decision in other situations.)
I think I’d be happier if I started thinking about meeting decisions, rather than making them.
