this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2024
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Bemused
It's used incorrectly so often that even when I suspect it's being used correctly I can't be sure. At this point its ambiguity makes it a bad word choice.
Me with nonplussed. I have a friend who uses it and he says it in situations that are ambiguous enough that I can't tell if he actually knows what it means.
Yup, that's another one. I think that one is even worse because the new usage makes it a contranym. Dictionaries are starting to include the new usage of that one too. Unless you have a reason to be pretty sure the author/speaker knows the correct definition, it can be difficult to tell.
What's the correct usage? and the wrong one you've been hearing?
It means puzzled and/or confused.
Many authors seem to think it means amused mixed with some confusion or puzzlement or something else like that.
Some dictionaries have started to include definitions along those lines, which is correct to do if that is becoming a common usage. But that makes the word bullshit because it no longer conveys a clear meaning. Unlike some words that gain new meanings through misuse, it's usually not clear which meaning is intended from context. Usually I can easily imagine a character's response to something to be either of these definitions so I often can't understand the author's intention. I often find myself taken out of the story while I try to understand which meaning I should use. Because of this I think the word has become useless and shouldn't be used.
Correct: confused or perplexed
Incorrect: amused
It means something in the vein of confused but people think it means amused