Common Words – Wrong Meaning

In my quest to improve in all things writing, I pause on the Internet and click to read articles with catchy titles, meaning to relay important messages about talking and writing. 25 Common Words That You’ve Got Wrong is my latest find and one I knew I needed to discuss here.

As we know, the way we read, write and talk  has changed over the years and from where I am sitting none of it sounds pretty.  Strange words such as lipdub, frenemy, merked to name a few are invented to express whatever comes to mind, sometimes opposite of how it should be used, confusing the person hearing the expression or words. This mostly happens within different generations. My favorite being”that’s sick” to mean “that’s awesome,” or “How you like my ride?” no longer meaning about a car, but really referring to expensive sneakers one is wearing.  Well…you get the point.

While I try to learn the new (slang) meaning of old words, I realize there are other words that are misused in conversation and sometime in writings, not at all intentionally, but simply because the person using them does not really know the true meaning of the word. Check out the list from the article and see if you’ve misused the below words:

Irony
Travesty
Ultimate
Conversate
Peruse
Bemused
Compelled
nauseous
Redundant
Enormity
Terrific
Effect
Irregardless
Chronic
Disinterested
i.e.
Decimate
Panacea
Fortiuous
Plethora
Total
Literally
Can
Defective
Absolete

Can you think of another word being misused?