OK, so I suck. I did not mention the election, which I watched at a friend's house. I was the only US citizen and the only non-lawyer there. Fortunately, I was not the only former member of the elite media who attended.
You already know how I voted, so although it was an emotional evening, I will only mention two details:
- I cried at John McCain's speech. It was gracious and simple, the sort of thing we would have heard from the senator before the campaign began. I really liked the way he chastised the crowd as they booed his remarks about calling Barack Obama to congratulate him on his win. I wish that John McCain had campaigned. I would have voted for that guy.
- I jumped out of my seat in dismay when Obama talked about the "enormity" of the job he is facing.
Can we all agree not to use this word again unless we're talking about Nazi atrocities? Let's make that agreement together today, Remembrance Day 2008.
Please.
We may have our differences about hyphenated compound modifiers. But surely we can come together and promise not to use that word to mean "enormous". We never hide from history, we MAKE history.
Thank you very much, and God bless America.
10 comments:
This post is soooooooo last week. :-)
My thesaurus matches enormity with the following words:
atrociousness
atrocity
depravity
flagitiousness
heiniousness
nefariousness
outrageousness
villainy
wickedness
I suppose the job ahead of him is wicked in the 1990s sense, depending on how you look at it.
I wonder if anyone corrected him since the speech.
Yeah, I really didn't time the Being David Hasselhoff Contest very well, did I? I liveblogged the RNC and then basically ignored the election.
How irresponsible of me.
Well, perhaps they're not "Nazi atrocities", but they ARE atrocities.
You mean grammatical atrocities?
I like the way you think.
Um. I hate to tell you this, but dictionary.com's 3rd definition for "enormity" is this:
"greatness of size, scope, extent, or influence; immensity: The enormity of such an act of generosity is staggering."
Yes, you will be dragged into the 21st century kicking and screaming. Yes, I believe we will still be alive on the day that "it's" becomes acceptable use for "belonging to it."
(Oh, and re: your comment on my blog: I think I should conduct a contest where the PRIZE is baked goods--Canadian residents only!) ;)
Well, that entry also notes that this is a "usage problem". That must be dictionary jargon for "stupid".
Languages change (consider the new definitions for hack and burn), but misusing "enormity" is just bad grammar. Shame on you, Mr. President.
On the topic of baked goods, I found a recipe for gluten-free oatmeal cookies that are JUST AS GOOD as the ones I used to make with wheat flour. The capital letters are essential to this point. I couldn't believe it at first.
Are you allergic to gluten? I usually bake with rice flour when making things for my sister-in-law and I can't taste any difference.
Megan, you aren't really going to respond with whether or not you have an allergy are you? Just think, someone will mail you a package of innocent looking cookies claiming to be gluten free... and then...
You have angered too many of the grammatically challenged to disclose such information with impunity.
Also, "Enormity" would be rather naturally related to "Enormous" wouldn't it? Shouldn't that help Obabma's statement to qualify?
I have a LIFE-THREATENING allergy to red wine and dark chocolate. It would cause me great distress if anyone sent those things to my house.
I'm also allergic to shoes.
Oh my, I live on red wine and coffee crisps. How sad for you. Halloween must be a bummer.
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