# Exercised or exorcized?/ **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 25, 2021, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercised-or-exorcized/945019 "2021-06-25T20:03:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2021, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercised-or-exorcized/945019/1 "2021-06-25T20:03:45Z")
It was just pointed out to me that I used the word “exorcized” where I meant “exercised.” (Context of the word and the correction here: [https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britney-spears-diagnosis/944950/31](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britney-spears-diagnosis/944950/31) ) Thinking it over, I left the spelling as “exorcized” because I thought that the sense of “worked up about” related better to “the casting out of demons” than it did to “doing calisthenics.” Looking up the two words online, I was mildly surprised not to find either definition suiting the exact sense I was intending, that of seeming unduly agitated about something, to which either definition seems equally suitable or unsuitable. Was I simply misusing the word entirely? Or is there a definition of the word that roughly conforms to the sense of getting unduly worked up about something? All the definitions I saw related either to physical exercise or to casting demons. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercised-or-exorcized/945019/2 "2021-06-25T20:20:03Z")
From Google: > [@](#): > > 1. occupy the thoughts of; worry or perplex. > > “the knowledge that a larger margin was possible still exercised him” This seems to be the meaning you are going for, although in this case, the agitated person is the subject of the verb with a clear subject. I feel like I’ve definitely seen it used the way you did, “He was exercised”, meaning, “He was unduly agitated”, but I suppose in that case “He” is still the object, with an implicit and ambiguous subject. Either way, yes, “exercised”, not “exorcised”. Look at it this way, if someone’s been “exorcised”, they shouldn’t be agitated anymore. An exorcised person should be at peace - their demons are gone. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercised-or-exorcized/945019/3 "2021-06-25T20:40:30Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > if someone’s been “exorcised”, they shouldn’t be agitated anymore. An exorcised person should be at peace - their demons are gone. Yes, exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2021, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercised-or-exorcized/945019/4 "2021-06-26T03:17:47Z")
When the demons are cast out, is it the former host who is exorcized, or is the demons who are exorcized? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2021, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercised-or-exorcized/945019/5 "2021-06-26T03:47:18Z")
Exercising your demons: > **[Pin on Humor](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/360147301433168642/)** > > May 9, 2016 - The Far Side has some brilliant and hilarious comics on existence in hell.  While humorous, one has to ask: what is it that makes them fun... ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2021, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercised-or-exorcized/945019/6 "2021-06-26T14:16:43Z")
Tom Waits says, in _Please Call Me, Baby_. > I admit that I ain’t no angel > I admit that I ain’t no saint > I’m selfish and I’m cruel and I’m blind > If I exorcise my devils > Well my angels may leave too > When they leave they’re so hard to find ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2021, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercised-or-exorcized/945019/7 "2021-06-26T22:49:54Z")
Exercised or exorcised? [https://www.https//nypost.com/2021/06/24/police-stop-exorcism-in-home-depot-lumber-aisle/](https://www.https//nypost.com/2021/06/24/police-stop-exorcism-in-home-depot-lumber-aisle/) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercised-or-exorcized/945019/8 "2021-06-27T02:31:22Z")
Fixed your mangled link: > **[Police stop ‘exorcism’ in Home Depot lumber aisle](https://nypost.com/2021/06/24/police-stop-exorcism-in-home-depot-lumber-aisle/)** > > Pennsylvania police claim they were called to a Home Depot on a report of “disorderly people having an exorcism” in the lumber aisle. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercised-or-exorcized/945019/9 "2021-06-27T06:39:58Z")
I suppose if you’re going to beat out the devil, it’s as well to have plenty of four-by-two to hand.