RE: Weird words

["Dori Green" <dgreen -at- associatedbrands -dot- com>]

Yvette wrote:

It's
amazing how people can actually invent words or meanings of words, and
use them in their day-to-day stuff. I've encountered some words that
have been so ingrained in their vocabulary that it seems almost futile
to correct, as far as I am concerned. 

**********

She's writing, of course, about the catachresis.  Yes, there actually is a technical term for this phenomenon.  I only learned of it because I was looking up words that included "cat" (was on a control-freak binge of including "cat" within the name of every new cat).  One poor little guy actually did end up with the moniker "Serious Catachresis Otherwise Known As Phred".

One of the more famous examples of catachresis is "nominal", as in "all systems are...".  Friends at NASA claim that it came into being when a speech-giver there could not quite decipher his speech-writer's handwriting; the actual word was "normal".  Members of the press oohed and aahed about this nifty new techie term and away they went.

Dori Green
Technical Writer (and resident word phreak), QMS Project
Associated Brands, Inc.

**********************

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1) - Cite This Source 
catâaâchreâsisâ /ËkÃtÉËkrisÉs/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kat-uh-kree-sis] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation 

ânoun misuse or strained use of words, as in a mixed metaphor, occurring either in error or for rhetorical effect.  


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[Origin: 1580â90; < L < Gk: a misuse (akin to katachrÃsthai to misuse), equiv. to kata- cata- + chrÃsis use (chrÃ(sthai) to use, need + -sis -sis)] 

âRelated forms
catâaâchresâtic /ËkÃtÉËkrÉstÉk/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kat-uh-kres-tik] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation, catâaâchresâtiâcal, adjective 
catâaâchresâtiâcalâly, adverb 

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