Name a word that doesn't mean what most people think it means

[Jragon]

@Fretful_Porpentine

I teach freshman comp, so I have a lot of these. Two that are approaching pet peeve status:

Droll. A remarkable number of my students, including many of the better ones, seem to think it means “dull.”

I think this one evolved through sarcasm. Off the top of my head it’s sort of a synonym for “whimsical” or “humorous” right? As such I think one time some guy said “isn’t that just lovely.” And then someone else, disagreeing said “Oh, yes, positively DROLL.” And then 16 people nearby who didn’t know the word didn’t recognize the sarcasm and used it in front of 16 people who then told 16 people…

Same with “perused.” Perused does NOT mean to casually look something over, or to skim, it means that you’re hunched over the sales reports for the 16th time in an hour with your tongue stuck out trying to memorize every last minute detail for your meeting later. (Though I see the “casually look it over” definition has made it into Merriam-Webster and isn’t even listed as slang. Either way, the ROOTS back me up.)

Also “irregardless.”

What people think it means: Regardless
What it actually means: “I have no idea what I’m talking about so pay special attention to the rest of this conversation to make sure everything I say is logically consistent.”

I just rememberes this article:

9 Words That Don't Mean What You Think

All the usual culprits are there, plus a few new ones like pristine and (dear Og, how did we get this far without mentioning it?) ironic.

[Colophon]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

-Livid means pale, not full of color.

That’s a new one on me. Got a cite? I thought it meant generally discoloured and darkened, as in a bruise. This page agrees, more or less.

[Beadalin]

Reticent.

Often used when people mean “hesitant.”

[Sigmagirl]

Presently.

It doesn’t mean “now.” It means “soon.” As in “I will be serving dinner presently, so wash your damn hands.” Everybody thinks it means “now,” as in “Susie is presently captain of the cheerleading squad.”

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@Colophon

That’s a new one on me. Got a cite? I thought it meant generally discoloured and darkened, as in a bruise. This page agrees, more or less.

Look here. Darkened and discolored is a secondary definition, but the main definition is “ashen: anemic looking from illness or emotion”. I used to think someone who was livid with fury was red in the face, but it actually means the blood has drained from their face.

Edit: looking at more online dictionaries, I see the definitions in pretty much every order possible. The Random House Unabridged even includes “flushed” as a possible definition. Damn those descriptivists!

Daniel

[74westy]

@Ethilrist

Quantum. It’s not a huge difference, it’s the smallest measurable difference.

I have always assumed the expressions like “quantum leap” that people object to when the “leap” isn’t small are more correct than those people think. IMO that expression just means that something has metaphorically moved from one point to another without passing through any intervening points. To me that seems a fair analogy to how we imagine things happening at at quantum level.

[Nzinga_Seated]

@RickJay

… But you’re not allowed to say “literally.” That’s too easy.

What word can you think of that people sometimes use despite not knowing what it actually means? I’ll start:

Bemused. Often used (including on this board) to mean “mildly amused” or “Caused to be amused.” It actually means to not understand something; the usual synonym given is “bewildered.” It can also mean to be preoccupied so as not to notice something.

I have a confession. I love using these kinds of words. I love it because I secretly believe that ‘grammar police’ are weak, insecure little shits that crouch in waiting for someone to use the wrong word in a debate. The debate is flowing along, then someone comes along and says, “Did you say ‘metaphore’ when you meant ‘analogy’?? You lose the argument!”

I loved all of those words on the Cracked list.

[Rhythmdvl]

@Marley23

Inconceivable.

My entry:

Wherefore

[Little_Nemo]

Not a common mistake but I used to work with a guy who thought recant meant to repeat something. So when he told me he interviewed somebody and they had recanted their written statement, I had to ask him if he meant that person was sticking by their original story or was now denying it.

This same guy also felt there was some distinction between saying he recalled something and he remembered something, but I was never able to pinpoint what it was. So if he told me he recalled something, I’d have to ask him if he remembered it also just to be sure.

[Lobsang]

@Colophon

Until I read about that senator or whoever it was that got in trouble for using it, it had never even occurred to me that it might sound racist. It’s just people looking for offence where there is none to be taken.
I always associated it with “niggling”, and I see the two words are related.

Should I avoid the word “niggle” as well?

Bolding mine: I see it slightly differently: People are not looking for offense. So it’s people hearing offense where none is meant. Or people assuming someone was being offensive and taking it that way.

[Fiddle_Peghead]

@pravnik

Penultimate.

There was a hilarious moment on Cash Cab recently. The question was “what beer would you be on if you were drinking the penultimate one of a six-pack?” The contestants arrived at the correct answer of the fifth after reasoning that since a pentagon has five sides and a pentagram has five points, that must be the correct answer. And yes, RickJay, you can be sure that Ben Bailey was quite bemused.

I hear people misuse affect/effect all the time.

[gigi]

@Lobsang

[penultimate]As far as I know it means last but one. What do people often mistake it to mean?

Some sort of superlative version of ultimate ~ maybe confusion with pinnacle?

Or else, the last.

[WhyNot]

**Ambivalent **does not mean you don’t care, it means you care very much on both sides of the issue.

@Small_Clanger

Disinterested.
It does not mean not interested in. Though rather like decimated, which got used (rather pointedly) correctly on Doctor Who of all places, I expect so many people use it to mean the wrong thing then it’s too late to save.

Well, kinda sorta. Can I interest you in the idea of a **renaissance **(which need not be only a referent to the time period when Queen Elizabeth I reigned)?

@thefreedictionary.com

Usage Note: In traditional usage, disinterested can only mean “having no stake in an outcome,” as in Since the judge stands to profit from the sale of the company, she cannot be considered a disinterested party in the dispute. But despite critical disapproval, disinterested has come to be widely used by many educated writers to mean “uninterested” or “having lost interest,” as in Since she discovered skiing, she is disinterested in her schoolwork. Oddly enough, “not interested” is the oldest sense of the word, going back to the 17th century. This sense became outmoded in the 18th century but underwent a revival in the first quarter of the early 20th. Despite its resuscitation, this usage is widely considered an error. In a 1988 survey, 89 percent of the Usage Panel rejected the sentence His unwillingness to give five minutes of his time proves that he is disinterested in finding a solution to the problem. This is not a significantly different proportion from the 93 percent who disapproved of the same usage in 1980.

[pravnik]

@Lobsang

As far as I know it means last but one. What do people often mistake it to mean?

@gigi

Some sort of superlative version of ultimate ~ maybe confusion with pinnacle?

Yes. People often mistake it to mean “ultimate of the ultimates.”

[gallows_fodder]

Fulsome. Though I see Merriam-Webster concedes that the use of fulsome to mean “characterized by abundance” has taken over the other definitions (like “aesthetically, morally, or generally offensive”) to be the chief sense. Tsk.

[pravnik]

As in, a fulsome prison?

[DooWahDiddy]

@Nzinga_Seated

I have a confession. I love using these kinds of words. I love it because I secretly believe that ‘grammar police’ are weak, insecure little shits that crouch in waiting for someone to use the wrong word in a debate. The debate is flowing along, then someone comes along and says, “Did you say ‘metaphore’ when you meant ‘analogy’?? You lose the argument!”

I loved all of those words on the Cracked list.

I think you mean metaphor.

My contribution is the word “ambivalent”. Everyone seems to think it means they don’t care either way, but really it means you can’t decide because you care so much about both options.

Edit: Crap, beaten to the punch. This thread is a breeding ground for simulposts!

[gigi]

@gallows_fodder

Fulsome. Though I see Merriam-Webster concedes that the use of fulsome to mean “characterized by abundance” has taken over the other definitions (like “aesthetically, morally, or generally offensive”) to be the chief sense. Tsk.

Hee. We have a priest visit who is something of a smooth-talking blowhard and asks us to pray for a fulsome faith.

The excessively insincere kind or the overdone and gross kind?

[Small_Clanger]

@Rhythmdvl

My entry:

Wherefore

Yeah, you hear this all the time Mind you I learned this one from the same English teacher that explained disinterested so maybe common usage has changed it since the sixteenth century?

[Procrustus]

@Sigmagirl

Presently.

It doesn’t mean “now.” It means “soon.” As in “I will be serving dinner presently, so wash your damn hands.” Everybody thinks it means “now,” as in “Susie is presently captain of the cheerleading squad.”

I agree completely. Don’t say “presently” to mean “currently.” Although dictionaries allow this second usage, I don’t. It is, however, very common at present.