The English language is very rich. With around 170,000 words in the Oxford English Dictionary, there’s a word for just abut everything. Indeed, As Richard Nilsen writes:
“When you develop a ripe vocabulary, you learn there are no synonyms in the English language: Each word carries with it a nimbus of connotation, a flavoring or a shade that makes it the right or wrong word for the context. No matter how close their dictionary definitions, words are not simply interchangeable.”
I find the current trend for the cavalier use of words frustrating. Words like '“disinterested” and “continuous” are often used instead of “uninterested” and “continual” respectively. If you’re not sure, look it up. And if you are sure, look it up, just in case you’re wrong. Just about every language guide I’ve looked at contains a list of frequently confused words. There’s no excuse.
Being concerned about this may mark me out as a pedant, but this sort of confusion can have unintended consequences. At the start of this pandemic, the National Health Service in Britain advised us that one of the symptoms of Covid was a continuous cough:
“The main symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are a high temperature, a new, continuous cough and a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste.”
I wasn’t sure whether they did indeed mean continuous — because if you were coughing non-stop for an hour you’d almost certainly die from asphyxiation long before coronavirus got you.
And that’s another issue: the lack of precision in using language is no longer confined to school kids. Those kids have now grown up and are working for national organisations and advertising agencies.
On 19 September 2019 I wrote an article about the misuse of language. Enjoy.
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