Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Would Shakespeare Approve?

In just the past week, I've been in the company of no fewer than three people who described someone or something as being "gi-normous." This distasteful, linguistic mash-up is maddening in two ways:

1) Blending "giant" and "enormous" does NOT create a new plateau of hugeness, nor does it shorten a burdensome, multi-syllabic word (which, in itself, is a loathsome practice).

2) It has the creepy essence of a child's mispronounciation. Perfectly understandable for a youth whose formative years are spent fumbling toward Webster's master word list; deeply unsettling when "enlightened" adults run away.

2 comments:

monica said...

You are correct Mr. Rosenblatt. Enough of this linguistic douche baggery!

Unknown said...

It appears you are not aware of the fact that Ginormous is a word used often on Kipper-- so I'll assume it is a British cool thing to say :)