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
James@nwarner it took me YEARS to realise that "terrific" means something positive and still, after 30 years of learning and speaking English, my very first instinctive reaction is always something negative, hence me never using the word myself 😂