Good vocabulary reminder

[likethebeer]

8 words that may not mean what you think they mean

I got at least a few of these wrong. I'm good on "unique", but not on "comprise". Something to remember.

Comments

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I've heard that about poisonous/venomous before, but I had forgotten. Not sure about precision. I know about "unique" but I misuse it anyway, by often adding qualifiers.

I just discovered the following:

Nonplussed

People think it means:
Unperturbed, not worried.

Actually means:
Utterly perplexed or confused. It comes from the Latin non plus (a state in which nothing more can be done).

I'm nonplussed

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Boy, have I always gotten that one wrong.

Re: I'm nonplussed

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

No kidding. I mean, how did anybody know everybody had it wrong?

Re: I'm nonplussed

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

An English professor (with an obsession for grammar) looked it over?

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

I just learned this, too. I used to think nonplussed meant dryly unimpressed.

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

I give up on literally having a literal meaning. People constantly use it to exaggerate their point.

you're right

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

"Literally" might have to be dropped from the category of "trying to get right" since it's so prevalent. It's like when I started to give up on "that's so apropos".

Re: you're right

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

And we may as well ban the word, ironic, because nobody uses it right. I STILL don't understand it. And begging the question.

Re: you're right

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I don't really understand "ironic" either. And forget about "envious" vs. "jealous".

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

I always thinks sublime means the opposite of its real meaning.

I understood most of those, but I'm fuzzy on the difference between imply and infer.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I use "imply" when I should probably mean "infer".

I just think of "sublime" as "awe + a little bit of terror". So I'm real picky about when I use it. Of course, when I find out the real meanings of these words, I usually just get confused and stop using them.

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

To me, sublime sounds like it means soothingly beautiful and understated.

soothingly beautiful & understated

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

That's what I used to think. I think it was learning art history that changed the definition for me - all of those landscape paintings:
http://edmundsiderius.wordpress.com/2010/06/23/caspar-david-friedrich-the-vista-artist/