# What's with this word? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 11, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963 "2006-03-11T19:38:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/41 "2006-03-13T15:20:03Z")
If your lump is not malignant, then it is benign. Shouldn’t it be benignant? Or else it should be _benign_ and _malign._ You can malign someone. But how do you benign them? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/42 "2006-03-13T16:22:08Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “Facetiously” contains all English vowels (I’m not counting “w”) in alphabetical order. As does “abstemiously”. The ones that have given me a chuckle lately are the adverbial forms of adjectives ending in ly, such as livelily and friendlily. I was hoping to apply something similar to correct what sounds really bad to me: He needs to get this work done\* timely\*. But apparently “timely” is also the adverb form. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/43 "2006-03-13T17:19:08Z")
> [@mtk\_](#): > > Similarly, you’re either over- or under-whelmed, never just whelmed… I’ve decided we\* might be\*, though. If we try real hard. “We had ten minutes before we needed to leave. When he came into the room I was whelmed after noticing his heveled appearance.” ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/44 "2006-03-13T23:03:24Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’ve decided we\* might be\*, though. If we try real hard. “We had ten minutes before we needed to leave. When he came into the room I was whelmed after noticing his heveled appearance.” Actually, you can be whelmed. From Merriam-Websters - Whelmed 1. to cover with water, submerge. 2 To overwhelm So actually, overwhelmed is the unneeded word, since they mean exactly the same thing. Think of all the time you can save not saying or typing the over part!! ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/45 "2006-03-13T23:14:28Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > No, that could just as easily mean “not bedridden” or “lacking spinal curvature.” then downright or forthright. you could go all Victorian and use honorable. This is re integrity, btw. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/46 "2006-03-14T14:13:22Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > Here’s one that had me stumped just yesterday. > > Is there any good one-word adjective that succinctly conveys the meaning of **integrity**? > > Something you could put in the blank to say, “Marjorie is \_\_\_\_\_\_,” rather than having to say something kludgy like, “Marjorie is a woman of integrity?” Scrupulous? And people always do things “half-assed.” Never “whole-assed” or “quarter-assed” or even just “assed.” In drug use, you’re either “high” or “down.” Yet the opposite of “high” is “low” and the opposite of “down” is 'up"–only drug use is being “coked up.” ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/47 "2006-03-14T15:28:02Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > The Word Detective says that Smithereens And so I suppose the singular is smiderin. What about “smidgen”? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/48 "2006-03-14T15:36:07Z")
I have a friend who bought a sweater that was adorned with sequins. One day she picked it up from the dry cleaner and remarked, “God! I think some of the sequences came off!” ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/49 "2006-03-14T16:10:31Z")
I’ve always wondered why swoops must be fell. And why is it that no one uses fell in that way for any other use? You don’t talk about the fell plans of the corrupt prosecutor, forex. Just about fell swoops. I wanna see someone talk about a benign swoop. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/50 "2006-03-14T16:20:52Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > I wanna see someone talk about a benign swoop. That’s what you get from a shorebird who _doesn’t_ want your sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/51 "2006-03-14T16:54:27Z")
Yabbut, if it’s not swooping down to grab your sammich, it’s coming down to make a deposit. Not very benign, if you ask me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lobstermobster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobstermobster/32/10033_2.png) [@lobstermobster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobstermobster)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/52 "2006-03-14T17:25:57Z")
I’m always irritated by _perturbed_ and _disturbed_ I remember when I was in middle school, the former was a vocabulary word and I was like "why wouldn’t you just say disturbed… ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/53 "2006-03-14T22:44:39Z")
Are there types of nog other than egg nog? Are there types of marm other than a schoolmarm? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/54 "2006-03-15T02:05:18Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And “inflammable” means the same as “flammable.” That’s the result of the Visigoths winning a round in the culture wars. ---
**Author:** ![Viridiana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Viridiana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viridiana)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/55 "2006-03-16T02:04:06Z")
Well, ‘hopefully’ still perplexes me because while I know it’s wrong to say “hopefully I can blah blah blah,” there seems to be NO replacement word. I can’t always say “it is to be hoped that” or even “I hope I can” - sometimes it just doesn’t work with the sentence, really it doesn’t. So it’s the only word that I sometimes consciously use wrong, and it really grinds my gears. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/56 "2006-03-16T04:19:44Z")
> [@ArchitectChore](#): > > **Ilk** is a noun meaning a group or class (of people usually?); it has a somewhat negative connotation.\* Originally, however, it simply referred to members of families who lived in an area that also bore their surname. [This page gives the example](http://www.answers.com/ilk&r=67) “Guthrie of that ilk”, which meant Guthrie of the city/shire/estate called Guthrie. But you’re correct – you hardly ever hear someone saying “I love people of that ilk!” Instead, the word is used by liberals to refer to conservatives, or by teetotalers making snide comments about those frat boys who go through a couple of kegs each weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/57 "2006-03-16T20:40:02Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > You’d never say “There’s a smithereen of paper on the floor.” (I’m tempted to start using it that way.) This gave me a surprise laugh so violent, I snorted on intake loud enough for someone down the hall to hear me. \ HA! ---
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/58 "2006-03-16T21:50:49Z")
There’s the slang term for money: _simoleons_ You always hear it in terms of large sums, such as “one hundred thousands simoleons!” But I frequently use it for small amounts. “Can I borrow five simoleons?” “If you put a simoleon in the machine, it will make change.” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/59 "2006-03-16T22:08:34Z")
> [@Charger](#): > > There’s the slang term for money: _simoleons_ Thanks! I had never heard that word before. ---
**Author:** ![ChordedZither](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@ChordedZither](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChordedZither)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963/60 "2006-03-16T22:12:40Z")
> [@Viridiana](#): > > Well, ‘hopefully’ still perplexes me because while I know it’s wrong to say “hopefully I can blah blah blah,” there seems to be NO replacement word. I can’t always say “it is to be hoped that” or even “I hope I can” - sometimes it just doesn’t work with the sentence, really it doesn’t. So it’s the only word that I sometimes consciously use wrong, and it really grinds my gears. Interestingly, there’s nothing wrong with using hopefully that way. Sadly, many people just don’t understand the idea of a [_disjunct_](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=hopefully&x=0&y=0) . Hopefully, you won’t be too vindicitve when pointing this out to them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-word/347963.md?page=2)