Embarrassingly Enough, ...

[Benjamin Barrett]

Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Embarrassingly Enough, ...
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>
>
>> I should have mentioned that I find "he's embarrassed of who he is" and
>> "she's embarrassed of her mother" to be the correct way to put these
>> expressions and that "about" sounds ungrammatical.
>>
>
> It seems to me that the most conventional or 'standard' expression is
> "embarrassed by".
>
> I guess I find "embarrassed about" OK. Similarly "embarrassed in connection
> with", "embarrassed as a result of", etc., when appropriate.
>
> As for 'correctness', I guess one can utter whatever one pleases: if I mean
> to type "embarrassed of" and I type "embarrassed of", it's correct; if it
> comes out "embarrassed fo", it's incorrect and I will correct it.
>
>
I agree with "by" over "of" for "embarrassed by her mother", but "he's
embarrassed of who he is" sounds much better to me, with "by" sounding
somewhat stilted. BB

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