It is NOT an enormity
Listen, you ignorant spavined fuck-turtles: An enormity is an atrocity. It has NO OTHER MEANING. It especially does not mean "immensity". Is that perfectly clear? Seriously, you're idiots.
(mudskipper, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 2:22, 30 replies)

Sadly, bombastic declarations don't actually redefine the language - by any sane measure, you're demonstrably wrong.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 2:46, closed)

If you're going to be massively sweary about it
try being fucking right, eh? It most demonstrably DOES also mean immensity, provided that you are talking about something so large as to seem overwhelming.

You absolute fucking twathammer.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 8:23, closed)

According to my oxford english dictionary, you're wrong.

(Poppet some assembly required., Wed 6 Apr 2011, 8:28, closed)

well, bollocks to you and your polite, rational counter-point.
at least call him a cunt, come on.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 8:31, closed)

fine.
Listen to me Mudskipper, you slack-jawed, pustulent cunt-bag, you are fucking WRONG. YOU are WRONGER THAN BRUSSELS SPROUTS.

will that do?
(Poppet some assembly required., Wed 6 Apr 2011, 8:35, closed)

I love you nearly as much as I love Gonz.

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 8:37, closed)

aww shucks.
(is that a lot then? I don't know how much you love him.)
(Poppet some assembly required., Wed 6 Apr 2011, 8:37, closed)

There aren't enough words to describe the depth of my love for Gonz
the terrible wrong-guts dyslexic.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 8:42, closed)

ahaha I had it pointed out to me I spelled Than wrong. To me they sound exactly the same.
I can't tell the difference.
Blame it on my convict-country's accent. I really can't hear a difference.
(Poppet some assembly required., Wed 6 Apr 2011, 8:43, closed)

The sun is out, the sky is blue
and QOTW abuse of erroneous definitions has given me my first hearty guffaw of the day and it's not even 9am.

It's going to be a good day I think.

Oh, and, Mudskipper, you're a halfwitted fuck muppet grandstanding ignoramus with half the brains of a bubble of spunk and even less of the vocabulary.

Just getting in the spirit of things, you know?
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 8:45, closed)

For some half-fucked reason I was in work by 7
leaving a perfectly nice warm bed and it's raining up here and dammit, that Mudskipper cuntpuffin is going to PAY.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 8:46, closed)

I, too, now love you. Whether you like it or not.

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 10:57, closed)

isn't that a pretty much textbook definition of rape?

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 13:47, closed)

Lawks, Sir! You DO know how to flatter me, an' no mistake!
*flutters eyelashes*
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 13:54, closed)

Just remember the rules
it's not rape if you shout "surprise!" first.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 14:10, closed)

I'm just joining in the poppet love-in
I AM SHEEPLE
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 11:05, closed)

If you're that outraged
then it *is* an enormity.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 10:02, closed)

This is a bloody awesome thread, by the way.
Thanks for this - it's cheered me right up watching you get totally flattened.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 11:06, closed)

I would tend to agree with you
We're probably at the stage where enough people have abused the term over the last few decades that the abuses have become accepted meanings; but IMHO most people who uses enormity for immensity are *probably* still doing so out of ignorance rather than an up-to-date appreciation of acceptable usage.

www.eng-lang.co.uk/enormity.htm

I would expect current style guides to allow the immensity use, but I wouldn't use it that way myself any more than I would use "mentalist" - non-humorously - to mean anything other than "someone who practises mentalism".
(snopesthetruth, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 12:31, closed)

Right. Yeah. because languages don't evolve, right?
it's an accepted OED definition and has been for years (specifically referring to the magnitude of something if that magnitude is overwhelming).

The only ignorance lies in blindly maintaining that word meanings as a feature of language cannot change and evolve over time. I assume, by this, you still use the proper meanings of "artificial" and "brave"* and "nice", then?

*edited for the fact this one is probably wrong, thus proving the maxim, "never google for extra examples of something when you have a perfectly good one already"
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 12:47, closed)

I'll just assume
That you were in too much of a hurry to read this carefully. Your "Yeah..." sarcasm appears to try to introduce a point I have already made; and which both acknowledges language evolution in general and assumes that it has occurred in this specific case. Since I specifically address a nuance of the evolution of language it seems to indicate quite poor reading skills to introduce that concept sarcastically as "an alternative".

The more subtle point that I go on to address is whether most usage follows the evolved usage (correctly) or abuses the original usage (happening to "hit" an evolved usage).

As for your "assumptions", I think that you'll no longer feel the need for them once you've read either my original reply to the OP or this one.

Your final paragraph perhaps illuminates your reply more than its actual content: the rush to Google to data-drill for support can often mean that the gist is missed, as you have done.
(snopesthetruth, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 9:28, closed)

This:
"but IMHO most people who uses enormity for immensity are *probably* still doing so out of ignorance"

is golden.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 12:51, closed)

This is interesting....

a large chunk of the answers this week have been grammar related, for instance verbing nouns (oh yes), a lot of which there is a legitimate argument for, that common usage kind of suggests that the language has evolved and that the new usage, whilst sounding a bit jarring to purists, has become acceptable. Like in this case.

So it is curious how in some cases people rage against the new/current usage, and in others they flame the OP. I wonder what the tipping point is? It can't be whether or not the new usage is in the OED, as they tend to accept things quicker than society at large. I suppose that it's just getting used to hearing it. And yes, I know that I have had a GrammarMoan this week too.

Oh, and mudskipper is wrong, and a smelly mouldy pissflap

/de-bandwagon
( kappynitty doubled your entendre on, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 13:19, closed)

the tipping point here is easy.
Whether it is a genuinely annoying facet of everyday life that comes from laziness or ignorance of basic education (txtspeak, apostrophes) or whether it's some pedant decrying the (incorrect or not) misuse of a fairly obscure word in a pointless attempt to seem more intelligent.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 13:46, closed)

Hummmmph.
That makes sense. In 2 lines you've rendered my post overly wordy and nullified it.

Damn you and your cold heartless logic.
( kappynitty doubled your entendre on, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 14:24, closed)

Not at all
it's only clear in this one - and that's only an opinion. There are plenty of less clear posts in this /QOTW, I agree entirely
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 6 Apr 2011, 14:44, closed)

Oh bollocks
Oh badger-bollocking fuckstains, oh Jesus fist-fucking Christ, I'm wrong. Bollocks bollocks bollocks. But I can still get fucked off by it, right?
In any case, there's a difference between languages progressing and merely changing, methinks. If the change in a term's meaning is due purely to constant ignorant misuse, that's something you've got a right to object to, even if it makes you look like a foul-mouthed King Canute.
PS "Fuck-turtles" is copyright-free, if you want to use it.
(exeunt Mudskipper, still muttering)
(mudskipper, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 3:07, closed)

Now ^THIS^, ladies and gentlemen, is how to deal with failing.
I am going to click I like this, as I think everyone can learn from it.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 8:58, closed)

^This.




But since it was supposed to be irrational, he sort-of wins anyway.
( Ugi , it's a game of give and cake, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 11:25, closed)

^thirded
well played, you turtle-fucking fuckturtle
( kappynitty doubled your entendre on, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 12:49, closed)