Words That Don’t Mean What You Think They Do
Posted by DDOCS in Grammar, tags: Grammar, Language
The English language has a LOT of words. Sometimes it’s hard to remember the meanings to all of them. In fact, I recently misused the word “nonplussed” and a friend called me out on it. I looked it up, and sure enough, I had used it incorrectly.
In my research, I came across a great list on Cracked.com. It’s the 9 Words That Don’t Mean What You Think. One word that makes the list is “ironic,” which really means “an outcome that is the opposite of what you’d expect.” Another one is “pristine,” which means “ancient, primeval; in a state virtually unchanged from the original.”
Check out the list for other great examples, plus a “dick rating” for correcting people. (Glad I got to work in the word “dick” in this post.)
Any words on this list that you also have misused?
Photo courtesy of Flickr: SarahB-
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Ditto with nonplussed! And I think you would have caught more of the general pop by starting this post with, “The English language has ALOT of words” since everyone and their brother seems to think that ALOT is just one word.
Also, way to go with ‘dick’ in the post. =)