Every now and then someone will say, "I'm nauseous."
This always makes me giggle a little bit. Sometimes, if I don't like the person, I'll think to myself: You sure are nauseous, bitch!
The word nauseous means causing nausea. Something that makes other people feel sick. If you feel sick yourself? Then you feel nauseated.
Of course, all this is falling by the wayside. If you look up the word nauseous in an online dictionary, you will find that the common usage (read: incorrect usage) wins over, and the first definition is: to feel nauseated. This is wrong. It is as wrong as using the word melancholy as an adjective (it's a noun; the adjective form is melancholic).
Alas. Language is ever-evolving. Which means that when people misuse words long enough, they become "proper."
As for me, I implore you all. Bring proper usage back! You are no longer nauseous, friends and neighbors. You are nauseated! Change your usage. Do it in the name of grammar. Do it to feel intellectually superior. If those reasons aren't enough for you, then just do it for the Saucy Vixen.
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5 comments:
That was very unique. (Snicker, snicker)
Only if you stop 'googling' stuff. 'Google' is not, and never was, a verb by your reckoning.
'Round these parts it's "I seen that". It's painfully incorrect but may as well be proper usage where I'm from. Everyone uses it...even teachers.
Mr. Elusive:
Here in America, we use a double quotation mark.
what about melancholically? i remember you said it wasn't a word. i still think it is. :P
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