RETRACTION - DAVE BARRETT & HIGH POINT SCIENTIFIC

On 19 Jun 2004 13:54:50 GMT, Rod Mollise wrote:



Enormity means depraved abnormality.

Hi Mike:

Sorry to nitpick right back, old buddy ;-)

Websters says (I'm too lazy to find a magnifying glass and look it up in my two
volume OED):

"Enormity, quality of being enormous; great wickedness; atrocity."

The first definition is much more common in American-English usage. That is, it
_is_ a synonym for "enormousness." Your definition is correct, of course, if
less common.

Actually, in this case, both definitions are applicable.

Yes, I was an English major in an earlier life. ;-)

Some dictionaries take the position of setting usage. Some take the
position of reflecting usage. OED is more towards the former, and Webster
far past the end of the latter.

It's really only recently that writers and reporters have started using
enormity to mean enormousness. Websters is merely reflecting that change.
I have an unabridged 1983 revision Websters which lists large size as
definition #3, qualifying it as rare.

Check this out for a small discussion about the recent incorrect usage of
enormity (though I agree that you're particular usage here easily
qualifies for the standard definition g):

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=enormity

My other pet language peeve is moot. Moot means arguable. People say an
issue is moot when they mean precisely the opposite - that it's not worth
arguing about anymore.

I don't object words acquiring new meanings over time, but I think it's
silly to change them sharply rather than gradually (or completely reverse
the meaning, as with moot).


--
- Mike

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