Over the past nine months or so, I have been keeping a list of words that sound painful or awkward to speakers of British English, yet appear to be used quite unthinkingly here in the States. Some clearly fall into the for-noun-read-verb category, while others appear to be invented to simplify sentence structure. See what you think:
- Demolitionable (i.e. ready or fit for demolition)
- Flavorful/healthful (and countless other variations ending "-ful")
- Winningest/losingest (i.e. the most/least successful)
- Impacting: "This crisis is impacting our economy"
- Critiquing (i.e. exercising criticism)
- Segue (v): "That segues me perfectly"
- Normalcy (i.e. normality)
- Crater (v)
- Grow (active v): "Do you want to grow your workforce?"
- Irregardless: A very confusing one, this, because it sounds like a double-negative, but is actually intended to mean "regardless"
- Pre-owned (i.e. used). Very popular with car dealers because it suggests the car they are selling you had a previous owner but wasn't driven
- Friend (v): "I'm so glad he friended me on Facebook"
- RSVP (v): "Admission is free, but please RSVP us"
- Suicider (i.e. someone who kills themself, typically with a bomb)
- Trend (v)
- Co-author (v)
- Fun up (v) (i.e. to increase one's fun)
- Funner upper (someone who funs up)
2 comments:
Two Qs: if "friend" is now a verb, does that mean "befriend" will cease to be used? And what does "That segues me perfectly" mean exactly?...
Yes indeed. I fear all linguistic subtleties (adverbs, non-noun-based verbs, spelling, etc.) will be lost.
In plain (i.e. old-fashioned) English, the confusing segue quote means "That provides the perfect link to my next topic of conversation".
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