The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #54007 Message #834160
Posted By: GUEST,Q
24-Nov-02 - 08:07 PM
Thread Name: BS: resolving common errors in English (USA
Subject: RE: BS: resolving common errors in English (USA
Possibly useful but sometimes slow to respond. I can use my Webster's and OED more rapidly.
Some of the errors listed made me smile. After several years of looking at folk lyrics, "ahold" becomes ingrained and I have to correct myself. Others such as "volumptous" don't exist, but on second thought, should! (think of applying the word to a 200 pound "Venus").
I always disliked "enthuse," (so does the compiler of this website) but Webster's Collegiate defines it without comment, and even gives alternate pronunciations and definitions. One example given is from Julian Huxley, a famous English biologist. The OED called it an ignorant back formation, but it is a losing battle (and has been since at least 1827). In their 1987 supplement, they instruct the reader to "For U. S., substitute orig. U. S.," which means the word is now common in the British Isles. I don't have the latest OED edition, but I am almost willing to bet that they have withdrawn the adjective "ignorant." Blathering on, but words interest me.