The latest Vocabula Review has a particularly fine article about words by Julian Burnside. Just a small sample, he repeats legend that when Noah Webster's wife caught him embracing the maid, she said:"Noah, I'm surprised." He, still the lexicographer, said: "No, my dear.You are astonished. It is we who are surprised."
For new members, if you haven't gone there yet, do go
to www.julianburnside.com . Notice on first page at top, word Language. Click on it, and you will find material to keep you interested for many hours.

Thanks a lot, Dr Bill. I'm supposed to be doing Real Work here, not submerging myself in the ramblings of some tantalizing wordjockey.

Noah's observation, apocryphal or otherwise, doesn't work. Take a look at the third definition below for surprise in the transitive sense:

3 : to strike with wonder or amazement especially because unexpected
intransitive senses : to cause astonishment or surprise <her success didn't surprise>
- sur·pris·er noun
synonyms SURPRISE, ASTONISH, ASTOUND, AMAZE, FLABBERGAST mean to impress forcibly through unexpectedness. SURPRISE stresses causing an effect through being unexpected at a particular time or place rather than by being essentially unusual or novel <surprised to find them at home>. ASTONISH implies surprising so greatly as to seem incredible <a discovery that astonished the world>. ASTOUND stresses the shock of astonishment <too astounded to respond>. AMAZE suggests an effect of bewilderment <amazed by the immense size of the place>. FLABBERGAST may suggest thorough astonishment and bewilderment or dismay <flabbergasted by his angry refusal>. " (MW Online)

I think Noah's wife was surprised along with Noah and the maid.

Noah's wife was surprised

You might want to check when that sense crept into the language. Aparently it was beginning to, but Mr Webster would seem to have been enough of a prescriptivist to decry it.

Yes, I considered the period of introduction for the third definition also. But I thought I'd go ahead and show the third definition for anyone who wondered whether that possibility existed.

...when that sense crept into the language

1655 Theophania 103 Alexandro acquainted him with the occasion of their coming thither, with which he was exceedingly surprised at first. 1687 A. LOVELL tr. Thevenot's Trav. I. 248 They..have Secrets which surprize the most knowing, many thinking them to be knacks of Magick. 1692 L'ESTRANGE Fables lxxi, People were not so much Frighted, as they were Surpriz'd at the Bigness, and Uncouth Deformity of the Camel. 1719 DE FOE Crusoe I. (Globe) 156, I was exceedingly surpriz'd with the Print of a Man's naked Foot on the Shore. 1768 GOLDSM. Good-n. Man III. i, You'll be surpriz'd, Sir, with this visit.

Dear WW: Burnside's whole point was that important distinctions have become blurred by careless usage.
I admire Burnside very much.

>Burnside's whole point was that important distinctions have become blurred by careless usage. I admire Burnside very much.

And that's what makes you such a nice man, Dr. Bill.

...allowing for important distinctions with the word nice.
-ron obvious /-:

>..allowing for important distinctions with the word nice.
-ron obvious /-:

Honey soy, ron, honey soy.

Did I ever tell you about Kemal I-Ponce, the Turkish leader who had a fetish for dressing up in women's clothing?

With a Blue Garter?

Dear sjm: I was never rugged enough to be an ice man.
Making a small deposit in so many purses would have stunted my growth.