Following is a list of words I have heard people misuse within the last month. My English is far from perfect, but these ones really bother me. I reference dictionary.com to confirm my usage suggestions (especially since my husband disagrees with me on several of these).
1. unique--it means one of a kind, not different or unusual
2. between vs. amongst--this one gets complicated. It differs with number of objects and intent (which is probably why a lot of people misuse it). See dictionary.com for an explanation.
3. anxious vs. eager--anxious implies worry or fearful expectation, eager is excitement
4. literally--this word means "actually" and should not be used in front of a figurative statement, i.e., "I was literally scared to death." No you weren't. If you had been, you'd be dead and not telling the story.
5. nauseated vs. nauseous--technically, nauseated is how you feel and nauseous is an adjective for something causing nausea
4 comments:
Wow, Jill. Those are GREAT!! The literally thing makes me twitch as well, but those others...I had to chew on them (not literally) for a bit (get it?). Not that I don't agree, it's just that this is far more sophisticated then my favorite: "Brother ChristianTsen said I might could get my patriarticle blessing, so I think I'm goinue."
ps: 'ignorant' does not mean 'rude'.
Cual Quiere!
heheheh - I can't even remember the rest of the Spanish words we combined to fit the English slang back in the day. (do you remember? As if?...and there was something else...)
Thanks for the English lesson... I so needed it... and I was a Comms major... my professors are so utterly humiliated because of me. ;-)
Keep up the GREAT BLOG! I love it... I'm always checking for more posts from you. Write MORE...please hehehe if only to satiate my entertainment.
I feel like I communicated with you via blogs now. I loved your comment on mine about Kalea's Electric Sombrero... that totally gave me the giggles.
And... it would be FRIGGIN awesome to live in the same little community or STREET with you.
I live in El Paso where a majority of the population speaks English as their second language, and they don't butcher it nearly as much as those in Utah! I also love when people refer to giving the baby a bath as "bathing the baby." And "I could have cared less." Really? how much less? Did you care a lot?
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