# English Language Discrepancies.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-discrepancies/212079>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 8, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-discrepancies/212079 "2003-11-08T15:30:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-discrepancies/212079/1 "2003-11-08T15:30:24Z")

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Why the discrepancy between horrific and horrible and terrific and terrible?

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**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-discrepancies/212079/2 "2003-11-08T16:09:10Z")

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Do you refer to two separate pairs of words that have different meanings, or to four words that have, at least in one sense of usage, common meanings?

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-discrepancies/212079/3 "2003-11-08T17:07:05Z")

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Ask the Romans. They’re the responsible ones:

horrific - from the Latin horrificare

horrible - from the Latin horribilis

terrific - from the Latin terrificus

terrible - from the Latin terribilis

American Heritage Dictionary

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**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-discrepancies/212079/4 "2003-11-08T18:56:08Z")

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Presumably the OP means why do “horrific” and “horrible” mean much the same, where “terrific” and “terrible” are opposites?

In ther past (e.g. OED 1964) “terrific” did mean “causing terror”. I’d put it down to a common usage drift where some words with a negative meaning acquire, initially as slang, a positive one: e.g. “terrific”, and more recently, “wicked” and “bad”.

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**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-discrepancies/212079/5 "2003-11-08T23:02:37Z")

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The OP isn’t the only case where symantic drift has created counterintuitive antonyms.

Consider the situation of _awe_ and _wonder_, _awful_ and _wonderful_. The first two are synonyms and the second two used to mean “inspiring awe or wonder”. Drifting meanings resulted in the latter now being antonyms.

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**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-language-discrepancies/212079/6 "2003-11-10T15:15:03Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ilsa\_Lund \*  
> \*\*Why the discrepancy between horrific and horrible and terrific and terrible? \*\*

Because English is a living language and not some sterile machine-design.