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#177454 - 06/16/08 10:55 AM Nonplussed.
Hydra Hydra addict Registered: 08/02/06 Posts: 631	Quote: USAGE In standard use, nonplussed means ‘surprised and confused’:: the hostility of the new neighbor’s refusal left Mrs. Walker nonplussed. In North American English, a new use has developed in recent years, meaning ‘unperturbed’—more or less the opposite of its traditional meaning: \| hoping to disguise his confusion, he tried to appear nonplussed . This new use probably arose on the assumption that non- was the normal negative prefix and must therefore have a negative meaning. Although the use is common, it is not yet considered standard. The preferred spelling is nonplussed. Not yet? My inner prescriptivist simply froths silently at the mouth.
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#177455 - 06/16/08 11:10 AM Re: Nonplussed. [Re: Hydra]
zmjezhd zmjezhd Pooh-Bah Registered: 08/13/05 Posts: 1678 Loc: R'lyeh	My inner prescriptivist simply froths silently at the mouth. A solution would be to exterminate every speaker you encounter who uses the newer, deviant meaning. After a while, and with luck in evading the long arm of the law, you would live a better, simpler, and unannoying world.
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#177456 - 06/16/08 11:18 AM Re: Nonplussed. [Re: zmjezhd]
Hydra Hydra addict Registered: 08/02/06 Posts: 631	Quote: A solution would be to correct every speaker you encounter who uses the newer, deviant meaning. After a while you would live a better, simpler, and unannoying world. Fixed™ How far does your tolerance for the misuse of words go, Jim? No, no. Don't answer that. I could care less. $\:D$
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#177458 - 06/16/08 11:31 AM Re: inferring implications [Re: Hydra]
zmjezhd zmjezhd Pooh-Bah Registered: 08/13/05 Posts: 1678 Loc: R'lyeh	How far does your tolerance for the misuse of words go, Jim? Non plus ultra. $;\)$
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#177459 - 06/16/08 11:37 AM Re: Nonplussed. [Re: Hydra]
Hydra Hydra addict Registered: 08/02/06 Posts: 631	I'm just ultra nonplussed. (Ultra non-nonplussed, for all you North American English speakers).
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#177461 - 06/16/08 11:44 AM Re: Nonplussed. [Re: Hydra]
twosleepy twosleepy enthusiast Registered: 02/28/08 Posts: 326 Loc: western NY	I think you two should just take this outside... ;0)
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#177465 - 06/16/08 12:29 PM Re: Nonplussed. [Re: twosleepy]
Hydra Hydra addict Registered: 08/02/06 Posts: 631	As Eco once said, in his charmingly wobbly English: "The tongue is perforating the cheek." I just thought it interesting's all. (You know I also have an inner descriptivist, right?)
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#177475 - 06/16/08 12:55 PM Re: pay no nevermind to the grammarian behind the curtain [Re: Hydra]
zmjezhd zmjezhd Pooh-Bah Registered: 08/13/05 Posts: 1678 Loc: R'lyeh	(You know I also have an inner descriptivist, right?) I pretty much assumed you did. (We all have little battling grammarian homunculi in us.) Great Econic quote.
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#177498 - 06/16/08 09:00 PM Re: Nonplussed. [Re: Hydra]
The Pook The Pook old hand Registered: 02/20/08 Posts: 707 Loc: Tasmania	Perhaps prescriptivists need to be more plussed (or is that less plussed, I forget) and definitely less chalant. I is nonchalantly ambivalent to this non-plussing nonsense... Edited by The Pook (06/16/08 09:03 PM)
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#177508 - 06/16/08 10:44 PM Re: Nonplussed. [Re: zmjezhd]
morphememedley morphememedley member Registered: 01/16/08 Posts: 136	Objecting to word usages of others does not alone make one a prescriptivist, but the nonprescriptivist who does that is nonetheless likely to be taken by some for a prescriptivist. The above statement is not intended as a breakdown of thread participants. Dictionary.com: No results found for objectionist.
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