nauseous = nauseated (1885)

[Dennis R. Preston]

Peter,

Then you never heard me and a bunch of my kind who all use -zh-
rather than -sh-. It's certainly a LH (i.e, Lowland Hillbilly) form
but may have wider distribution.

dInIs



>I came in on this discussion in progress when I rejoined the list after an
>absence, so I apologize if this aspect has already been covered, but it
>seems to me that "nauseous" is isolated by its pronunciation in addition to
>its other peculiarities.  I don't recall ever hearing it pronounced other
>than "nawshus," whereas I don't recall hearing the other words in question
>pronounced other than "naw-ze-ating" and "naw-ze-ated."  A kid I went to
>high school with, who was British, was famous for saying "naw-she-ated,"
>but I'm sure the "nawshus" pronouncers I've heard--even very recently--were
>not all British.
>
>Peter Mc.
>
>--On Monday, January 10, 2005 5:02 PM -0500 Benjamin Zimmer
><bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:
>
>>In other words, "nauseous" has become a "skunked word" -- a word that has
>>undergone a recent semantic shift and is therefore a source of confusion
>>amongst those unsure of which sense is the accepted one.  Bryan A. Garner
>>introduced the idea of "skunked words" in his _Modern American Usage_ (I
>>believe "nauseous" is a prime example on his list).  Garner notes that
>>some anxious speakers simply avoid skunked words if the new, prevailing
>>usage is disparaged by prescriptivists as incorrect and the earlier usage
>>is no longer generally understood by anyone other than the
>>prescriptivists.  In the case of "nauseous", the word can be avoided
>>entirely because the speaker has recourse to the unambiguous choices of
>>"nauseated" and "nauseating".
>
>
>
>*****************************************************************
>Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
>******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
        Asian and African Languages
Wells Hall A-740
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office: (517) 353-0740
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