Oh, did I hurt your widdle feelings?

You said, “That shot must have been a fiasco”.

So I said, “What’s wrong with it?”

You said, “Nothing; it just must have been a fiasco getting the fire to burn just right, not too much not too little, and at the right time of day.”

I said, “Well is that what it’s supposed to look like?”

You blew up and said something, I don’t remember, and I said, “Well, you said ‘fiasco’. Fiasco means when something gets so messed up it’s ultimately not worth the time it took to screw it up. Clusterfuck, in other words.”

You said, “Well you know what? I don’t care! I’m going to keep saying it that way! I swear, you’re the only person I know who does that!”

Bite my shiny metal ass. If you’re using a word that has the complete opposite of the meaning you’re trying to express, and I rightfully don’t understand what you’re getting at and ask for clarification, I’m going to inform you so you don’t keep using the wrong word! So other people can understand you! How is it an insult?

YEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

Through the Looking Glass

Bender - Futurama.
Nice use of the line, Rilchiam.

By the way, the exact same thing happens when I ask my wife to clarify a word I suspect she’s used incorrectly. I’ve learned not to ask for clarification.

So let me get this straight, you were out starting fires?

Back when I was younger, I attended a fly-by-night radio school put on by a local DJ. He had the habit of using the word “detrement” repeatedly. However he would use it in place of “benefit”. Or at least I think he was doing that. He would say things like’ “This class will be a huge detrement to your radio career.” Thinking back, he may have been right. He was plenty embarrased when a couple of us in his class pointed out his error.

“I do not think that word means what you think it means.”

If **Rilchiam ** is a male and “you” happens to be his wife, then I recommend the useful phrase “Yes, dear.”

It’s inevitable, that people will do that. Out of utter confusion. When a person is using the wrong word, people who DO understand what it means will ask for clarification.

This defensive guy is just trying to put off the inevitable. Someone else (and then someone else, and yet another person) will be rightly confused when he uses that word incorrectly. It’ll never end! I wonder how long he’ll hold out before finally conceding that he’s using it incorrectly.

May I add a :rolleyes: to that comment. Thanks.

I had a professor who constantly used “implicit” when he meant “explicit”, or vice versa. It was infuriating, as we couldn’t correct him for fear of a lower grade.

I meant december’s comment, of course.

I understand the embarrassment at being caught using a word incorrectly - but not the defensive or angry reaction. The only thing you can do is suck it up, admit you’re (for the moment) an idiot, and move on.

To this day I recall burning shame, distress, and horror when, in seventh grade, I described something as the EPI-tome of perfection, and the teacher corrected me, telling me it was pronounced e-PIT-toe-me. Sheesh.

And in ninth grade, talking about something related to teen angst, I used the word ennui, pronouncing it EN-you-I. I was an idiot.

As long as we’re on the subject, particlewill - I think the word you’re describing is spelled detriment.

  • Rick

this whole thread is emphatic.

Ya know, I spelled it that way at first but it just didn’t look right for some reason.

I really need to get a word proccesing program with spell check. I really do.

Gah! I can’t believe I forgot to check the e-mail option!

No, I’m female, and the person using “fiasco” was Friend. He wanted to borrow something, and I brought it over when he was watching the last five minutes of a movie, which involved a fire. He wasn’t truly offended; I think his defensiveness was a front for embarrassment.

Amazingly, today’s Big Nate includes the proper use of “fiasco”! I sent it to him in e-mail. We’ll see.

Good anecdotes, all!

What are you talking about? Embiggen is a perfectly cromulent word.

My former boss used to do that. “I’d like to make sure you guys do this clemently, not ambiguously.”

25% of the time, this was ok, we’d just nod and get the job done - the other 75% of the time he’d decide to quiz us “So, how do you do this clemently?” And we’d have no idea. Mostly because there was no way to do the job clemently (or whatever adverb or phrase he’d chosen to use totally incorrectly that day.) So, there were a lot of blank stares and incorrect guesses followed by him giving “helpful leaderly guidance” into how he wanted the job done and him thinking that we obviously needed him - or we’d be lost.

Even worse, he wasn’t consistent. So, today at 10, “clement” may mean one thing, but at 3, it may mean something different, and the next day, it could have either of the two meanings or take on a third. The fear of being fired does keep you from making corrections, so sometimes, you’ve just got to deal.

I had a roommate who, if you were telling him he did something wrong, he’d remark “why are you condoning me? it’s not my fault!” I wonder if he ever noticed my smirk.

Guess it means you only work when the weather is nice.

Inclement is one of those words that sounds like it ought to have an opposite - ‘clement’ - but there’s no such word.

I like those - you never hear about kempt hair, sung heros, or being corrigible.

  • Rick

clem*ent (adjective)

[Middle English, from Latin clement-, clemens]

First appeared 15th Century

1 : inclined to be merciful : LENIENT <a ~ judge>

2 : MILD <~ weather for November>

– clemently (adverb)