Words, words, words.
Most of the time, folks don't take much notice of misspellings in daily life. I'm one of those exceptions. Some years ago, I read a brief anecdote in, as I recall, a Reader's Digest, about a man named Tenent who, while briefly hospitalized, complained to the chief nurse, Mrs. Hall, that his name was misspelled on the chart. When she made a quick quip about what harm there could be in swapping an "a" for an "e" in the second syllable of his name, he replied, "Mrs. Hell, it makes a Hall of a difference."
Unfortunately, that little story has stuck with me for, yea, these thirty-five years and change.
Add to that, I excelled in my grammar, composition, and literature classes in school, and passed my Latin classes without trying (and, sadly, have forgotten more than I then studied). Naturally, I'm a little sensitive to abuses of the English Language. I stock up on my supply of Richard Lederer books and links. I buy language textbooks whenever the opportunity at auction arises.
Let's face it. I'm a word junky.
And so, as the saying goes, I get my underoos in an uproar when I see somebody lazily slaughtering helpless words. For example, "momentarily" does not mean "in a moment", but rather "for a moment". "Presently" does not meant he same thing as "currently", but rather is comparable to "right away, dear!" See me now foaming at the mouth.
But those aren't what put the bee in my bonnet today. That pesky insect comes from the misspelling of a basic Latin phrase which has made the circuit of triteness, of late: I speak of "ad nauseam". It is used ad nauseam, and it is misspelled as "ad nauseum", ad nauseam. It is a nauseous practice.
So, allow me to put this into terms most abusers of the Latin might be able to comprehend: Ef yer gonna use a furrin langwidge, do that langwidge the curtsey of larnin it rite er larnin some nuther langwidge astead. Pertendin yer smart by usin big furrin frazes dont get ye no points whan ye muss up ad nauseam.
Babel Fish won't help you.
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