The Word "Love"

Here's my problem with the word "love." There's only one of it. If you think about it, the word "love" can be used to describe a multitude of emotions that are entirely different from each other. We "love" pizza. We "love" our boyfriends/girlfriends. We "love" our siblings. We "love" our best friends. We "love" our parents. We "love" shopping. We "love" our country of origin. We "love" our favorite television show. We "love" skydiving or rollerblading or music or football. The emotions we feel for the aforementioned people and objects are quite different from each other, but we use the same word to describe all.

Of course, we could rephrase some of them. Pizza tastes good. I enjoy shopping. I like to watch White Collar. I am loyal to America. But there's no other way to say that I love my mother and my boyfriend. The emotion is completely different; the word is the same because there is no other word for either feeling. We could qualify it: I romantically love my boyfriend. But how many people say "I romantically love you!" when they leave for work in the morning?

And sometimes, we love one thing in different ways. I like to watch tennis, but I also enjoy playing it. However, I still only "love" it. I love my brother both as my brother and as my friend, but I still only "love" him. There aren't two different words.

I'm out of words and have homework to do. Much love.
ZB