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
Nicd@nwarner When I was a kid, I used to frequent this web forum where among other banter I would say how inferior I was. I meant to say I was superior, but I thought inferior meant that because it kinda sounded like "on fire" and fire was cool.