Words that often get misused

[Datesad]

I’ll start.

Enormity.

I’ve seen this used incorrectly in books, articles etc! It doesn’t mean huge!

Thank you @noaxetogrind, that's actually really useful, I shall try and think of raindrops from now on.

@SpacePug arrggh, brought vs bought grinds my teeth. Very common on MN

@honeylulu Yes to reins vs reigns - FFS sake one is for horses and the other for Royals, how hard is that to remember

@longwayoff

This is not the right place to introduce this new word I came across recently, nevertheless, I offer it to you. Testiculating, used to describe the PM's arm-waving, spluttering, mansplaining delivery of copious amounts of waffle.

This is the most amazing word ever. I shall adopt its use immediately!

Queue instead of cue
Purposefully instead of purposely
Loose instead of lose
Lead instead of led

I keep seeing ‘flaunting the rules’ rather than flouting!

dotdotdot, it's excellent isn't it?! Does just what a word should do. It's not mine, it was a clip sent to me of Bozo waving his arms about with
Testiculate
To wave ones arms about while talking bollocks
Written beneath it. So I can't credit the originator but well done to whoever it is. Perfect.

'Gaslighting'. On here. And let's not forget 'controlling and 'bullying'. Again, on here. They have become almost empty of meaning.

I’m amazed no one has put forward “myself” as a misused word especially since it’s so often misused on MN
“Myself and my DP were going to the shops”
Instead of
“DP and I” or “DP and me”

Dilemma has been used in the current sense (a choice between two options, good or bad), since the early 17th century, so I don’t think that would count as being used incorrectly.

@beguilingeyes

The whole eligible/illegible thing makes me crazy. I saw someone described on TV as an illegible batchelor recently.

I confronted her about it I said, "I'm the most illegible bachelor in town." And she said, "Yeah. That's why I can never understand any of those silly letters you send me."

See also:

She said it was just a figment of speech
And I said "You mean figure." And she said "No, figment"
Because she could never imagine it happening

One I particularly dislike is ‘slither’ for ‘sliver’. As in ‘I’ll just have a slither of cake.

And ‘waiver’ for ‘waive’. ‘Can you waiver that charge for me?’

People using ‘and I’, when they actually mean ‘and me’.

Re less and fewer - why do we never have people enraged about more vs greater? I suspect its one of those where it really doesn't matter except to people who like the sense of being outraged over something that doesn't matter (although there's less of them around since I stopped caring about it... )

I’m amazed no one has put forward “myself” as a misused word especially since it’s so often misused on MN

I read those posts in an Irish accent and it fixes itself (or fixes myself, depending on where the problem truly lies).

@Totallyaddictedtoshoes

Ambivalent. It means internally conflicted or having contradictory opinions on something and doesn't mean not really bothered.

I used to do a nanny share with someone who frequently said she was 'ambivalent' about issues (eg which nanny to hire) and I spent ages trying to understand her conflicting opinions to get to a solution. I eventually realised she was meaning that she didn't care. It caused me a lot of confusion and she must have thought I was really weird for a while.

Surely the result of ambivalence can be that you basically don't have a strong enough opinion either way to 'win' and therefore aren't that bothered? E.g I hate camping and caravanning equally, so my ambivalence about my choice of holidays means I don't care which I go on.

@powershowerforanhour

Yes. "My granny died and I'm mortified." Why? Did she die in flagrante with the mayor in front of the whole village?'

In certain parts of Northern Ireland (and maybe the south? Don't know) the word "annoyed" is sometimes used to mean upset and sad, e.g. "Her wee dog was put down on Saturday and she was very annoyed, poor lady".

But mortified doesn’t mean sad or angry. It means embarrassed or ashamed.

Literally.

Someone on my SM wrote: The gym was roasting. I was literally dying during my workout.

Oh, and if you live in the UK you may have a dropped kerb, but not a dropped curb.

(I realise that in the US and possibly elsewhere they use curb for both meanings)

I've learnt a few things thanks to this thread. Thanks, op

@Galassia

Literally.

The over use and irrelevant use of the word ‘literally’ is very annoying.

It's my pet hate. That and "loose" for " lose".

The use of "loose" for "lose" seems particularly bad on MN. Every time someone refers to weightloss, it is always "loose" and I have to suppress the urge to correct them.

Dh often describes a child as precocious when he means obnoxious.

'Rent' when someone means 'let'. You hear that quite often these days but it is so incorrect. A landlord lets, a tenant rents.

Hero.

Eg the English football team are not heroes, though they do play football very well.

Also flammable/inflammable

@MarieIVanArkleStinks

'Massively'. It's nearly always an overstatement.

And since when did 'definitely' become 'defiantly?'

@MarieIVanArkleStinks haven’t RTFT so maybe somebody has already said this, but I think defiantly must have arisen via the misspelling “definately” & autocorrect - the beginning of “definat” gets “corrected” to the wrong word.

(And I just tested that theory in whatsapp - it worked!)