Monday, June 10, 2013

Post migraine post

I had a nasty migraine last night that kept me up for most of the night, and I'm not sure I have a real post in me.

In lieu of that, I have a linguistic issue I'd like to get off my chest: Misnomer does not mean "error" or "misconception"...it refers to an error in naming.

I'm sure my very smart and wonderful readers know this, but 3 times in the past two weeks I've heard people make this error.  If you're going to try to use big/unusual words, please use them accurately.  Oh, and that also goes for phrases in Latin.  Saying part of your argument in Latin doesn't make you right.


3 comments:

  1. Walt Kelly had one of his characters ask what language the Romans used when they wanted to impress.

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  2. Ah. Sumus quod sumus.

    You are currently correct, and I applaud you. In a hundred years they will say "misnomer used to mean a very specific type of error, and error in naming. Get it? 'nom?' Now it just means any general error."

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  3. Latinus sermo non de te ius argumentum.

    But...admit it. It sure makes you sound right.

    ReplyDelete