Natasha WarnerYesterday I got an email from a member of a committee that I chaired, thanking me for my "horrific leadership." The person writing it is not a native English speaker, and the tone of the rest of the email, and the whole thread, was positive. I'm pretty sure the person meant "terrific." The more I think about it, how should anyone be able to remember that "terror" turns into a positive thing in one of its adjective forms, but "horror" doesn't? #AcademicChatter #Linguistics
slash@nwarner I'll never be able to see this word again without thinking about this. ;)
But I'm also still stuck on Polish vs. polish, and unionized vs. unionized. How's anyone supposed to keep all these special cases straight?
Now that I think of it, perhaps English is the *cause* of current political problems. When words can mean opposite things at the same time, how can rational thought proceed?