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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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Carpal Tunnel
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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.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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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. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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How far does your tolerance for the misuse of words go, Jim?Non plus ultra. 
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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I'm just ultra nonplussed.
(Ultra non-nonplussed, for all you North American English speakers).
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old hand
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I think you two should just take this outside... ;0)
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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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Carpal Tunnel
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(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.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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old hand
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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... 
Last edited by The Pook; 06/17/08 01:03 AM.
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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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