10 Words That Dont Mean What You May Think They Do

10 Words That Dont Mean What You May Think They Do 10 Words That Don’t Mean What You May Think They Do 10 Words That Don’t Mean What You May Think They Do By Mark Nichol As English evolves, word meanings shift and turn, sometimes reversing themselves altogether. These ten words have shifted their senses over the years. In some cases, we are wise to likewise be flexible; in others, we relax our vocabulary at the expense of useful distinctions: 1. Decimate The literal meaning of this word, as all you lovers of Latin (not to be confused with Latin lovers) know all too well, is â€Å"to reduce by one-tenth,† supposedly from the punitive custom of selecting one out of ten captives by lot and killing those so selected. But the senses for this rhadamanthine Roman policy have proliferated, so that now it means â€Å"tithed,† â€Å"drastically reduced,† or â€Å"destroyed† as well. 2. Disinterested Commonly employed to mean â€Å"not interested,† disinterested has a precise, useful meaning of â€Å"neutral, unbiased.† 3. Enormity Some people would reserve this word to mean â€Å"monstrously wicked,† but, in truth, it is properly invoked to refer to anything overwhelming or an unexpected event of great magnitude, and thus it need not be invariably corrected to enormousness except when it is clearly in reference to a loathsome occurrence. Refrain, however, from diluting the word’s impact in such usage as â€Å"The enormity of the new stadium struck them as they approached the towering entrance.† 4. Fortuitous This word means â€Å"occurring by chance,† but its resemblance to fortune has given it an adopted sense of â€Å"lucky.† For meticulous adherence to the traditional meaning, use fortuitous only in the sense indicated in this sentence: â€Å"His arrival at that moment was fortuitous, because her note had not specified the exact time of her departure.† Nothing in the context qualifies his arrival as fortunate; the sentence merely states that he arrived in time without knowing that he would do so. The informal meaning is expressed here: â€Å"His fortuitous arrival at that very moment enabled him to intercept the incriminating letter.† In this sentence, the time of his appearance is identified as a lucky stroke. 5. Fulsome This term originally meant â€Å"abundant, generous, full,† but that sense was rendered obsolete when the word acquired a negative connotation of â€Å"offensive, excessive, effusive.† Conservative descriptivists rail against the use of fulsome in a positive sense, but the cold, hard fact is that this sense has been increasingly resurgent for many years, and the adulatory meaning is now much more common than the condemnatory one. If you wish to stand fast before the tsunami of inevitability, be my guest, but fulsome as an exquisite insult has been consigned to the dustbin of history. Some commentators recommend that because of the word’s ambiguity, it’s best to avoid its use altogether. If you insist, make sure the context is clear. 6. Ironic The impact of ironic has been diluted because many people use it to mean â€Å"coincidental,† when its traditional definition is â€Å"counter to expectations or what is appropriate.† 7. Literally Some folks get exercised when this term is used in place of its antonym, figuratively. However, in a hyperbolic sense, that meaning is justified. Unfortunately, that sense is literally overused. 8. Notorious This term is occasionally used in a neutral sense, but that’s not an error, but the word literally means â€Å"known.† However, its dominant connotation is that the fame is a result of infamy. 9. Peruse This victim of definition reversal literally means â€Å"to use thoroughly,† and its first sense is that of careful steady or attentive reading. However, many writers (myself included) have employed it as a synonym for scan enough writers, as a matter of fact, that its second sense is â€Å"to look over or through in a casual or cursory manner. Unfortunately, these mirror meanings mean that if you use the word, I advise you to support it with context that clarifies the intended sense. 10. Plethora Plethora originally referred to an excess of something, but that usage is rare now, and more often the sense is simply of abundance. The medical meaning of swelling caused by an excess of blood is all but unknown. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Types of Narrative ConflictThat vs. WhichHow to Style Legislative Terms

Assignments on the book after the fact Assignment

Assignments on the book after the fact - Assignment Example Therefore, initially we will tell something on the plot of the story; then, we will go to the perceived ‘truth’ of the story; then, to the ‘truth’ as it perceived today; and, finally, we will come to how it influences ‘history’ itself. Firstly, it must be stated that Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti ‘were suspected anarchists who were convicted of murdering two men during a 1920 armed robbery of a shoe factory’ in Massachusetts (current excerpt was brought from internet sources). Except this factual background, it is clear that historical truth as it appeared to be in 1920s and how it is nowadays totally differ, as two contradictive images of the story. It was believed that these Italian immigrants with evident anarchistic backgrounds were found guilty for double murdering and armed attack, but is stated clearly by different reliable internet sources of different origin that ‘there is a highly politicized disput e over their guilt or innocence, as well as whether or not the trials were fair’ and ‘the dispute focuses on contradictory evidence.’ (given excerpts are from internet sources) Obviously, they were blamed in their crimes unjustly and nowadays many historians of the 1920s suggested that basis of evidences in that case was particularly weak. Nevertheless, these two images of the story of ‘Sacco and Vanzetti’ told us the aged truth that we do not need to trust in overall historical facts cause they were fabricated by one or another request, of social, political, or cultural nature/interest. From the other perspective, these ‘facts’ could be fabricated not even in terms of ‘natures,’ but following the particular interests of group of people in the society or in the government. In other words, ‘history’ is written due to the evident interests of elites, groups of people who are in the authority in the given society o r social network with its vertical or horizontal socialization. Watergate Summarizing the story we will find out, equally with the previous sub-chapter, ‘what was the perceived truth of the situation and what do the writers find out;’ and, also, ‘how does it differs.’ Secondly, it can be regarded as necessary to pick a quote that I personally enjoyed telling why; furthermore, it is interesting from the perspective of how it changed perception of the ‘truth.’ Moreover, it will be clear afterwards how has this story of Watergate and President Nixon ‘changed the way you think about history and why.’ Initially, the most interesting citation concerning the case of Watergate, 1974, to my mind, is the next one which summarizes the case briefly: ‘As a result of the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration’s attempted c over-up of its involvement, the scandal eventually led to the resignation of Richard Nixon, the President of the United States, on August, 1974, the only resignation of a U.S. President.’ (the excerpt was brought from the internet sources) Thus, let us compare two images of the story, ‘perceived’ one and another one, ‘contemporary’ version of the events. Then, afterwards, we will successfully answer on a question about how these versions of the historical fact changed my personal