Literal Meanings and Pedantic Precision

Literal Meanings and Pedantic Precision Literal Meanings and Pedantic Precision Literal Meanings and Pedantic Precision By Mark Nichol Earlier this year, the Merriam-Webster website, which, along with its paper-and-ink version, is notorious for its laissez-faire approach to word usage, expressed an intriguing argument in one of its Usage Notes: Chill out about preserving the â€Å"original† meaning of words. If one were to insist that words be used only in their initial sense, one would discourage me from writing â€Å"Chill out,† because I am not alluding to temperature, and the literal meaning of the verb chill is not â€Å"calm down,† but â€Å"make colder.† That’s the point of the post, which argues that, for example, aggravate shouldn’t be required to apply only to making something worse- it’s fine to use it when describing mere irritation. The argument goes that if the restriction is to be taken to its logical conclusion, aggravate should mean only â€Å"weigh down,† because that is its original sense. (The grav in aggravate, you see, is the same as the grav in gravity.) By the same token, the lackluster utterance of â€Å"Awesome† in response to, well, virtually any pronouncement- no exclamation point is necessary, because the comment was likely nothing like an exclamation- is acceptable. Apparently, the interest of some in preserving that term to describe something truly remarkable is invalid; after all, the original meaning was â€Å"inspiring awe,† and to employ the word for something merely spectacular demonstrates disloyalty to its etymological origins. (Awful would also have the same restriction, because it literally means â€Å"full of awe.†) I see the point, but I also feel that indiscriminate dilution of a word’s distinct meaning paints writers into a corner. Once awesome, indiscriminately mumbled in response to myriad comments undeserving of such a potentially powerful reply, is devalued, what is left to describe something that is, well, truly awesome? On the one hand, this weakening of a word challenges the writer to find- or even craft- a suitable synonym, but it might not be long before the replacement is in turn drained of its strength. That’s why I never write (or say) anxious when I mean eager; the former term patently alludes to anxiety, not anticipation. But I admit inconsistency- using the last word in the previous sentence reminds me that anticipation literally means not â€Å"the state of looking forward to something† but, rather, â€Å"the act of foreseeing.† (Anticipere, the Latin verb from which it is derived, means â€Å"take before.†) Nevertheless, I try to use precise, unambiguous words and will continue to preserve distinctions when possible, and I encourage careful writers to do so as well. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Computer Terms You Should Know50 Nautical Terms in General Use20 Movies Based on Shakespeare Plays