"terminally" = utterly; extraordinarily

Amy West medievalist at W-STS.COM
Wed Jul 1 12:33:48 UTC 2009


And I "crack open" my MWC11 (electonically), and there under
[1]terminal, adj. is sense 2c "extremely or hopelessly severe
<terminal boredom>". Perhaps I just enjoy the additional connotation
of death from sense 2b  ("leading ultimately to death: FATAL") in the
"terminally stupid" construction, and it's probably my own
idiosyncratic analysis.

---Amy West

>Date:    Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:09:19 +0000
>From:    ronbutters at AOL.COM
>Subject: Re: "terminally" = utterly; extraordinarily
>
>Surely a big part of what is going on here is that the noun
>"terminal" cannot be made into an adverb. In Norfolk, VA, there is a
>street called "Terminal Drive" (it leads to some kind of Navy
>terminal. Nobody thinks it means 'Death Street."
>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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