LSSU Banished Words list, 2008

[Laurence Horn]

My favorite comment is the one below, on "decimate" (topic of a
recent thread here).  I'll try to remember to trot it out next time I
teach the etymological fallacy.  Take any semantic change, e.g. that
for SILLY:  "It's so bad that now there are two definitions, the real
one [= 'blessed'] and the one that has taken over like a weed
['foolish']."  But maybe if we really wanted to make a point with the
Danes of the world (no, I'm not talking about inhabitants of
Denmark), we could suggest they think of new senses not as weeds but
as wildflowers...

LH

At 11:33 AM -0500 1/2/08, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php
>
>
>DECIMATE - Word-watchers have been calling for the annihilation of
>this one for several years.
>
>...
>"The word is so overused and misused, people use it when they should
>be saying 'annihilate.' It's so bad that now there are two
>definitions, the real one and the one that has taken over like a weed.
>- Dane, Flowery Branch, Georgia.
>

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