What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
41–50 of 337 posts
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#42Merriam-Webster brags in TFA about their descriptivist reputation; and indeed, they are thw arch-descriptivists. But I'm not aware of any contemporary publisher of dictionaries that doesn't take a descriptivist stance. This 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'…
C double plussed is a whole other language, the American Engrish of Ye Olde English.
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#43Another one is "upshot". It's sometimes not even worth using the word because people think it means "upside".
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#44Merriam-Webster brags in TFA about their descriptivist reputation; and indeed, they are thw arch-descriptivists. But I'm not aware of any contemporary publisher of dictionaries that doesn't take a descriptivist stance. This 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'…
American Heritage is much better. They respond to usage, but much more conservatively. And their entries will actually have brief explanations from their "usage panel" about ambiguous or changing meanings.
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#45First they came for literally and I did nothing because I wasn't a pedant. Then 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.
Not to be a pedant, but I see you are completely nonplussed about all this.
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#46As a Brit, I don't think I've ever encountered the latter meaning. I've only ever heard it to mean 'perplexed'.
Also a Brit, but I thought it meant "unbothered" until 5-6 years ago.
Another Brit confirming this understanding of the word (although I just found out about the original meaning about a minute ago).
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#47I 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…
I’m nonloled about this situation.
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#48First they came for literally and I did nothing because I wasn't a pedant. Then 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.
You are literally nonplussed.
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#49I've pretty much given up on trying to fight the evolution in the meaning of words. Singular "they" was one I resisted for a long time, but it's a lost cause. It still trips me up to hear it or especially to read it: what? did another person suddenly enter this context? I still avoid it myself, and think its use reduces clarity, but it is what it is. Word usage changes, evolves. A word or a different meaning of a wor…
Singular "they" was one I resisted for a long time, but it's a lost cause. I've had almost the opposite experience from you. I'd long embraced it as the correct word to use when referring to a person of unknown gender or to a hypothetical individual, but having to use it regarding real people caused me problems. When my wife became coworkers with a non-binary person and its usage came up every few days, the better I…
I purposefully and unapologetically try to refer to everyone as "they" these days. A person's gender is rarely relevant (and can often lead to stereotyping), so I see no need to mention it every time I refer to them. And it makes life a lot simpler.
Re: What's Going on with ‘Nonplussed’? (2017)
#50First they came for literally and I did nothing because I wasn't a pedant. Then 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.
Not to be a pedant, but I see you are completely nonplussed about all this.
I'm not a literal pendant, but you have to admit it's a nonplus.