Don’t ruin it for me! It’s one of my favourite words, but I really have no idea why. Maybe because it’s just so odd.
> It’s one of my favourite words Wait, shouldn't it be the second one, right after _petrichor_?
What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
21–30 of 337 posts
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#22Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#23Then they came for nonplussed and I still did nothing because I'm still not a pedant.
I sure hope they don't come for pedant next.
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#24As a Brit, I don't think I've ever encountered the latter meaning. I've only ever heard it to mean 'perplexed'.
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#25This places pendants like me at a serious disadvantage; I can't rely on a dictionary to help me win arguments about correct usage.
"Nonplussed" is like "disgruntled"; you can't be plussed, and you can't be gruntled.
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#26This was one of my favorite "word of the day" entries, a word every speaker tries to work into their speech, at Toastmasters. The person who introduced it gave the two definitions and then basically said "it's the only word I know that means its opposite" or something to that effect. It got liberal use in every speech, including mine, and I still don't feel comfortable using it correctly.
That guy is a literal pain in my behind.
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#27As a Brit, I don't think I've ever encountered the latter meaning. I've only ever heard it to mean 'perplexed'.
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#28"No more" can have many slightly different meanings... I think this specifically means "no further/not more" rather than "no longer"
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#29I think I've always assumed it meant "unimpressed." That is not the "new" meaning under discussion, but they seem to hint at it when they say, "This new sense appears to stem from a mistaken belief that the first three letters of nonplus are there to indicate that someone is something other than “plussed” (although what being plussed would entail here remains a mystery)." I bet my meaning is the next change to this s…