Wednesday, May 14, 2014

wEIRD wORD wEDNESDAY


Words that are often misused


bemused
However close their spellings may be, "bemused" is not a synonym for "amused." Bemused means bewildered or perplexed. Example: The actor's bemused expression suggested that he didn't know his scenes had been cut from the movie.


Farther vs. further
"Farther" refers to physical distance. Example: I live farther from the grocery store than you do. "Further" refers to advancement. Example: Nancy read further into the comment and got angry.



irregardless
Most of you probably know this already, but it bears repeating: "irregardless" is a made-up word! It might be a mash-up of "regardless" and "irrespective," which do share the same meaning. The same is true of "conversate"—again, word fiction.




No comments:

Post a Comment