'Confused'

[Mark A. Mandel]

 Geoff Nathan:

 >>>
<font size=3>Something I've noticed over the past year or so (maybe a
little longer) is a subtle shift in the meaning of the word 'confused',
which, to me, means 'mixed up, jumbled', but seems often to be used
nowadays, particularly by the younger set to mean just 'puzzled' or
'uncertain'.  For example, in the local student newspaper, the
'Southender', yesterday there was an article about FERPA, with the
 <<<

I'm startled by this observation. As far as I can remember, the
human-subject "puzzled/uncertain" sense was the first sense I learned
(suburban NYC, 1950s); the inanimate sense of "mixed up, jumbled" came
later.

-- Mark A. Mandel