# Words whose definition is clearly wrong. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 15, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944 "2004-08-15T14:48:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MysticMilt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@MysticMilt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysticMilt)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/21 "2004-08-17T19:51:58Z")
I always screw up **nonplussed** , because with the “non” part I have set it in my mind that it means not upset. To say nothing of the fact that we never describe something as “plussed” makes it all the more confusing, because I have no basis for the contrast. Gah. Can we please, _please_ change the meaning? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/22 "2004-08-17T19:55:47Z")
> [@KarlWinslow](#): > > American **football**. Who named this sport? Given the proportion of game time in which a player’s foot contacts the ball, by their logic, soccer could reasonably have been named headball. Well, look at the other sports and how the balls were named something distinctive, appropriate to the sport: Basketball. It’s got a basket. Baseball. It’s got bases. Volleyball. You hit it back and forth (aka volleying). So, football: at least you contact the ball with your foot from time to time. Throwball, Goalpostball and Puntball are awkward names. How the heck did “soccer” get named that? How often do you “socc” the ball? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/23 "2004-08-17T20:16:05Z")
During **conjugal** visits shouldn’t two willing partners be discussing verb tenses? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/24 "2004-08-17T20:30:05Z")
Obvious candidate: **pulchritude** - sounds like it is describing ugliness, not beauty… ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/25 "2004-08-17T21:28:30Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > How the heck did “soccer” get named that? How often do you “socc” the ball? The “soc” bit comes from the game’s official name, As-SOC-iation Football, as in the rules drawn up in 1863. Rugby football was already commonly known among public school types as “rugger”, so it was natural for them to abbreviate Association Football similarly to “soccer”. Of course, nobody in his right mind in Britain would ever call it “soccer” nowadays. It’s always just “football”; if you want to refer to any other code, you have to specify it - Gaelic, Rugby (either League or Union), Australian Rules or, um, American. ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/26 "2004-08-17T23:46:31Z")
> [@Cicada2003](#): > > _Congenial_ sounds like the opposite of _genial_. Then there’s _congenital_ which sounds like it describes something you place in your underpants for safekeeping. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/27 "2004-08-18T00:12:54Z")
**bemused** - I always though it should mean “sarcastically humored by something” rather than “bewildered” **scion** - IMO should refer to the “leading authority” or “head of the family” rather than the child. **epitome** - this one just gets used wrong all the time. It doesn’t mean the “outstanding, peak example” of something like everyone seems to think, it means the “typical, average example” of something. “You’re the epitome of a golfer” is not necessarily a compliment. **poopdeck** - boy did the real meaning of _that_ one surprise me when I first learned it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/28 "2004-08-18T04:18:40Z")
I’ve always thought “prone” should mean “immune to harm” rather than the opposite. I don’t know why, but I was quite discomfited when I found out what it meant. Can we pick one meaning for “sanction” and get rid of the other one? Either it means “to give official authorization or approval to” OR it means, “to penalize,” but it shouldn’t mean both. One definition is wrong, clearly. ---
**Author:** ![jttm80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@jttm80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jttm80)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/29 "2004-08-18T06:16:00Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > **epitome** - this one just gets used wrong all the time. It doesn’t mean the “outstanding, peak example” of something like everyone seems to think, it means the “typical, average example” of something. “You’re the epitome of a golfer” is not necessarily a compliment. :eek: Gasp! I’ve been using it wrong all this while. Thanks for that. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/30 "2004-08-18T18:50:43Z")
**Hemiola** sounds like some sort of weird medical thing, but it’s a musical term. ---
**Author:** ![constantine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@constantine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constantine)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/31 "2004-08-19T15:40:07Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Well, look at the other sports and how the balls were named something distinctive, appropriate to the sport: > > Basketball. It’s got a basket. > Baseball. It’s got bases. > Volleyball. You hit it back and forth (aka volleying). > > So, football: at least you contact the ball with your foot from time to time. Throwball, Goalpostball and Puntball are awkward names. > > How the heck did “soccer” get named that? How often do you “socc” the ball? Apparently the game was originally called football not because it was played with the feet, but because it was played on foot (rather than on horseback): > [@](#): > > Soccer people like to claim that the word football should really be applied only to soccer. What else would you call a game played with the feet and with a ball? Logical enough, but the argument is flawed. The word football came into use in England in the mid-fourteenth century to describe a game played not _with_ the feet but _on_ foot, in order to distinguish it from pastimes that were played on horseback. > In those early forms of football, the participants kicked the ball, handled it, ran with it, and generally movied it about in any way that they could–indeed the most notable feature of the contests was an absence of rules. It was not until 1863 that a definite division was establisehed between a game played with the feet (soccer) and a game played primarily with the hands (rugby). Until then football was neither soccer nor rugy but a brawling mixture of the two. Paul Gardner, “The Simplest Game” Chapter 1 at p.1. ---
**Author:** ![milquetoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@milquetoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milquetoast)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/32 "2004-08-19T17:10:37Z")
> [@bughunter](#): > > Then there’s **congenital** which sounds like it describes something you place in your underpants for safekeeping. (bolding mine) Wouldn’t that be _pro_genital? ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/33 "2004-08-19T19:44:53Z")
You’re thinking of the word _con_ meaning _in opposition_, from ME _contra_. I’m using the latin root _con_ (or _com_) meaning _with_ in this context. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/34 "2004-08-19T20:00:21Z")
Progress. Congress. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/35 "2004-08-19T21:01:50Z")
> [@monsterbob](#): > > dipthong- why doesn’t it mean the sounds made by a bunch of consonents together rather than consecutive vowel sounds as in Hawaii? Oh, it gets worse. The correct spelling is actually di **phth** ong. Thufferin’ thuccotash! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/36 "2004-08-20T05:29:47Z")
**reproductive equipment** – should be VCR’s, DVD players, projectors, CD burners, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/37 "2004-08-20T10:59:28Z")
Well, it occurs to me that my username could quite plausibly mean “Someone who speaks from his lower intestine” :dubious: ([It doesn’t](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=colophon)) ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/38 "2004-08-20T11:27:04Z")
> [@KarlWinslow](#): > > **misdoubt**. American **football**. Who named this sport? Given the proportion of game time in which a player’s foot contacts the ball, by their logic, soccer could reasonably have been named headball. I’ll try to remember to cite some stuff on this. May take a day or so. Basically, it goes back to the original rules of football a century ago. It is only recently (maybe 60 years) that the forward pass was even introduced. Before that, going back to the '20s and '30s teams of the Packers (and by default all lesser teams 😉 ), it was pretty much rushing and kicking. The forward pass was a revolution to American football. And not welcomed when introduced at the time. Before 1940 there was no definitive positions of quarterback, halfback, fullback, nor tight end. You had a center setting the ball, a guy taking the snap, and someone running the ball. There were some men that lined up eligible to be a “ball in play” guy, as it were. But if the QB threw the ball, it had to be behind the line of scrimmage. Hence, the forward pass being such a huge revolution in football. That’s a very wordy answer to the reply, but hopefully a glimpse into why we call it football. It was originally based on kicking the ball, as running it was rather tough when you couldn’t throw the ball for 30+ yards in a play. ---
**Author:** ![haardvark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@haardvark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/haardvark)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/39 "2004-08-20T12:33:31Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > **bemused** - I always though it should mean “sarcastically humored by something” rather than “bewildered” **Dooku** gets a twofer with this post – I always thought bemused did mean, essentially, “sarcastically humored by something”. Huh. (Interestingly, M-W gives a secondary definition of “to occupy the attention of”. Every time I think I don’t like it here anymore, a thread like this pops up and I’m enthralled all over again. ---
**Author:** ![KarlWinslow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@KarlWinslow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlWinslow)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944/40 "2004-08-20T12:37:31Z")
**irenic**. Makes me think of “ire”, which connotes the opposite of its true definition. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-whose-definition-is-clearly-wrong/259944.md?page=3)