amelioration of "shock"

[Joel S. Berson]

As in "shock and awe", I suppose.  Might that have been the opening 
for this use of "shocked", being equated with "awed" but taking on 
"awed"s positive aspect?  (Although I see the OED doesn't make much 
in "awe v." of the sense "pleasantly amaze".)

By the way, how do aw-droppers pronounce "awe"?

Joel

At 9/20/2014 11:01 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>Maybe this was mentioned before. I've been noticing it for several years.
>
>Now in the pop media it very frequently means "pleased and surprised; moved"
>
>Yahoo! News offers a paradigm example:
>
>
>"Tim McGraw shocked at daughter's singing debut...
>The country star says 12-year-old Audrey inherited her mother Faith Hill's
>pitch and tone....'I had tears running down my face.'"
>
>
>
>JL
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org