i did have some of these wrong!  but "terrific" is going to have to get with the times.

and i'm so glad "irregardless" is on this list!!  that one drives me nuts!

You could substitute wonderful for terrific. 

I too hate irregardless. 

wonderful is a much better word, anyhow!  i seldom use terrific.

i remember getting a sticker on my work as a kid that said TERRIFIC! and asking the teacher why she thought it was so bad.  :)

I went back and corrected one of my posts.  I committed the "ultimate" sin.

hahaha!  except not any more... three hours have passed!

Heh. I'm not going to stop using awesome by the way.

awesome.

Now I have that song in my head again.

http://pandawhale.com/post/38447/lego-movie-everything-is-awesome-song-gif

not a bad song to have stuck in your head!!

it's like an instant attitude booster!!

HAHAHA!!  i LOVE that!

I love that they call it "risk" of awesome instead of "chance" of awesome. 

Hilarious!!

19. Fortuitous

What you think it means: Lucky.

What it really means: By chance.

There is a difference between luck and chance. Unfortunately, people use the two interchangeably, so much so that it’s difficult to explain the differences anymore. Lucky is an event that happens by chance that can be described as fortunate. Winning the lottery is lucky. Fortuitous means simply by chance. For instance if you drop your basketball and it bounces into the road and gets hit by a car, that’s a fortuitous instance. It’s neutral, so it can be good or bad things that happen by chance.

Dammit.

yup. i had that one wrong, too. as well as nauseous. which just made me nauseated!

but what's this about awesome? we aren't supposed to throw it around like we do??

"We’re going to loop awesome in with this one too. Awesome simply means to inspire awe and people often use it to describe something really good."

D'oh!

i thought we all knew it meant to inspire awe, we just love hyperbole.

Yes! We do love hyperbole!

8. Nauseous

What you think it means: To feel ill.

What it really means: To cause feelings of illness.

This is another understandable mishap that a lot of people make. If you actually feel sick then you are nauseated. The object that made you feel ill is nauseous. Here’s how this works. If you’re at an amusement park and you’re sitting next to a full trash can, the fumes from the trash may make you feel ill. That means the fumes from the trash can are nauseous because they are making you feel nauseated.

I gotta practice this one.

Is the best use of this list to know words to use around people that get really upset over improper word use? 

Didn't you, Adam, recently post an article about a female linguist talking about how it is good that people are communicating in a way others understand versus proper word use?

I believe that was Geege:

http://pandawhale.com/post/35600/net-speak-like-because-is-making-english-a-warmer-language-new-republic

It's important to know what words mean in any case so we can be more specific in our language.

totes mcgotes.

we want to mean what we say and say what we mean.  words are good for that.

i have a friend who consistently says "self-defecating" instead of "self-deprecating."  i corrected him once, but he brushed it off like i was the jerk, so now when he does it i just smile to myself and imagine the beautiful images he paints while he speaks....

Oh my. He is his own worst enemy!

Is self-defecating better than this: http://m.pandawhale.com/post/40324/putting-someone-elses-poop-in-your-body-could-literally-save-your-life?  :-) 

hahaha!  who knows?  according to that study, no, it's not.  :)

So wait, self-defecating is good for you?!

well, yes, if it means simply defecating!  but is that what it means??  :)

according to that article trans-defecating is good for you!

Trans-defecating is a word I have never heard before now. Wow.

Wishing I had a kill switch for my imagination.

We're glad you don't have one -- this is when you're most creative!

hahaha! geege...

yes, this has gotten kind of gross.  i was just playing with prefixes because i am a word nerd!  i apologize for aiding in the creation of those images you can never get out of your head now.

Sometimes you have to go over the edge to know where the edge actually is.

Said the lemming.  (I know, it's an urban legend!)

Lemmings are misunderstood.

Disney likes murderin'.

that disney story is amazing!  they made a fake documentary, won an academy award for it, accepted it, and managed to coin a term that we still use today!  but it was all made up!  and they even threw a bunch of lemmings off a cliff!

I know, right? Thought you'd like that. :)

And back to the subject of trans-defecating, it's a real thing:

http://pandawhale.com/post/50175/when-feces-is-the-best-medicine-by-amanda-schaffer-in-the-atlantic

Yeah science!

that is also amazing.  weeks of unsuccessful antibiotics or just a simple (gross) solution.

Perhaps it is not gross and what we really need is an attitude adjustment.

or nose plugs.  it wouldn't seem so gross if it didn't stink.

True. The next time we design the universe we should give it a better aroma. 

"Self-defecating" - he's his own worst enema.

Putin approves.

I'm okay with mangling the English language--with intent. I used "conversate" today, as a matter of fact, in front of a room full of 27 15 year olds. Once one has the elements of something it's okay to break the rules. Otherwise, we end up far too rigid. Like those hotel painting painters:) 

Did you use Conversate to mean Converse?

it's good to properly edumacate 15-year-olds on how to break the rules of language!

So can any word be verbized?

I think it's terrific to conversate with my friends. Irregardless of whether I've seen them in a long time, I can literally talk their ears off. One of my friends works for the Department of Redundancy Department. It's the ultimate travesty. :-) What is interesting is that you can verbify new nouns without even changing their form, e.g. Googling, facebooking, friending, etc.

Ha!

Well said, except... Use regardless, not irregardless. Irregardless must die. 

The beauty of language is that it morphs and changes, like a flower unfolding. I was tutoring a kid in English overseas, and his 1950's American text (...ours are finally up to the 60's I think) said things like "Mary said to fetch the water." "The cock crows." Turn page. Happy kids playing. "John and Mary are gay." Horrified! I had to cross off every other word due to language evolution. You can't even say fetch. You'll be locked in a gym locker forever in school. Language changes like the fabric of society itself. I used to be very stiff in my proper usage, especially when I started writing. I'll never forget a quote from a good friend, "I had to beat the academic out of you." So, I vote with the people on this one. Words mean whatever they mean--if you know what you're saying. If you're ignorant, it's still a 15 yard penalty. First down. 

Anthony Burgess was a genius at word invention.  Everybody must read _A Clockwork Orange_ which contains its own glossary!

Rich, you are a literal jewel.

Dawn, gettin' down wit it!