"mortified"

[EmmaH2022]

Genuine question
Has the meaning of this word changed? I am hearing people use it where I'd use shocked or horrified.

To me, it means very embarrassed.

Here's an example that confuses me

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-37560744

Sarah shouldn't be mortified. She is not responsible for it.

[gelatodipistacchio]

Agree!

[JayAlfredPrufrock]

I agree.

[MissHavishamsMouldyOldCake]

Yeah I've seen it used on MN threads in a place of horrified/devastated e.g. I was mortified when my sister died. Such a jarring misuse of the word.

The quote in the BBC article is confusing. The nomination is baffling, Sarah. Baffling!

[RaskolnikovsGarret]

Yes. I wonder how it changed its meaning for so many people.

[MissHavishamsMouldyOldCake]

Why did I italicise two words? I must do better. Pedants' Corner makes me nervy.

[UserBot999]

I think it means so embarrassing. I havent heard it used in any other context!

[OperationRinka]

I've seen it misused on MN, I think it's a widely misunderstood word, but I'd have expected BBC journalists to have known what it meant and not put the interviewee's misusage front and centre in a headline.

[EmmaH2022]

@RaskolnikovsGarret

Yes. I wonder how it changed its meaning for so many people.

Thanks, not just me then.

I don't understand how this happened. It was actually my sister using it wrongly that made me think perhaps I'd got it wrong and it has somehow evolved...but looking up dictionary definitions, it hasn't.

I feel like we live in a world where many words have evolved into having many meanings and it's confusing...but this is the first one where I can't find any logic in the change of use.

[EmmaH2022]

@MissHavishamsMouldyOldCake

Why did I italicise two words? I must do better. Pedants' Corner makes me nervy.

This is my first post here. Scary!

[Clymene]

Yes I agree. I'm embarrassed for her. She should be absolutely mortified

Seriously though, you'd think the journalist would say 'erm do you mean you're really embarrassed?' so that she could clarify rather than using it in a massive headline which will leave a lot of people confused.

[EmmaH2022]

@Clymene

Yes I agree. I'm embarrassed for her. She should be absolutely mortified

Seriously though, you'd think the journalist would say 'erm do you mean you're really embarrassed?' so that she could clarify rather than using it in a massive headline which will leave a lot of people confused.

The journalist probably doesn't know either.
I only saw this article because it was posted on MN.

Generally, I do expect low standards on news websites. When I did my post grad, nearly twenty years ago, we were told to avoid using top line punctuation in exams. Our tutor said it was risky because there was a good chance those marking the papers wouldn't know the correct usage and said he had seen people lose marks when they used it correctly.

[TooManyPJs]

I don't think Sarah understands what mortified means. Bet she'll be mortified when she finds out. 😬

[getsanta]

Absolutely I've seen the same misuse.

[Farrandau]

I remember a thread on Mn from a few years ago on which a poster had said she was ‘mortified’ when I think she meant ‘horrified’ — I think the context was that she’d said it to an acquaintance or colleague after hearing they’d lost a family member. Major pile-on, then, which suggests that the majority of people on here weren’t then misusing the term…?

[Dogmum40]

I agree! Drives me potty! And don’t even get me started on “literally“ apparently one of my acquaintances “literally died when she bumped into her ex” errr clearly you didn’t because your still here talking rubbish to me…

[Marynotsocontrary]

'Literally' now means 'virtually' too, Dogmum40. The secondary meaning made it into dictionaries some time ago.

[EmmaH2022]

@Farrandau

I remember a thread on Mn from a few years ago on which a poster had said she was ‘mortified’ when I think she meant ‘horrified’ — I think the context was that she’d said it to an acquaintance or colleague after hearing they’d lost a family member. Major pile-on, then, which suggests that the majority of people on here weren’t then misusing the term…?

Interesting..it does seem a recent thing.

Sorry, but "misuse" and recent events on MN reminded me of something...how funny the word "misuse" is when referring to drugs.

Like so:

Judge - "in what way did you misuse the cocaine?"
Defendant - "I threw it at an owl".

😂😂😂😂

[EmmaH2022]

@Marynotsocontrary

'Literally' now means 'virtually' too, Dogmum40. The secondary meaning made it into dictionaries some time ago.

Oh no! So we can't wheel this out to explain things?

theoatmeal.com/comics/literally

[Marynotsocontrary]

No

www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/misuse-of-literally

[Dogmum40]

Noooooo! Can we all make a stand and get it taken out…

[gelatodipistacchio]

Another offender

[EmmaH2022]

@gelatodipistacchio

Another offender

This is correct use of "mortified"

[gelatodipistacchio]

@EmmaH2022 really? I did not perceive this as her being embarrassed. Perhaps one's reaction to the headline dictates one's perception of the woman's feeling about the leg of lamb. I assumed she was horrified.

[EmmaH2022]

[quote gelatodipistacchio]@EmmaH2022 really? I did not perceive this as her being embarrassed. Perhaps one's reaction to the headline dictates one's perception of the woman's feeling about the leg of lamb. I assumed she was horrified.[/quote]
Oh I'm sorry
I thought it was the woman who bought a ham thinking it was something else and then complained it pink

I'm now mortified at getting my news trivia in a muddle and correcting someone who was right all along...while laughing at the madnessof everything, including me 😂

[gelatodipistacchio]

@EmmaH2022 this is a relief. I thought I was going to be laughed straight out of pedant's corner!