Quote Originally Posted by Hursticon View Post
Toys 'R' Us I don't care about, American English was purposely honed to trample all over British English
I discovered today that 'nonplussed' (which means 'surprised and confused') now also means 'not disconcerted' (i.e. the opposite of its actual meaning) in the US because they were so ignorant that they kept using it incorrectly. Seriously:

"In standard use nonplussed means ‘surprised and confused’, as in she was nonplussed at his eagerness to help out. In North American English a new use has developed in recent years, meaning ‘unperturbed’—more or less the opposite of its traditional meaning—as in he was clearly trying to appear nonplussed. This new use probably arose on the assumption that non- was the normal negative prefix and must therefore have a negative meaning. It is not considered part of standard English."

So now in the US the word has been rendered meaningless because it means its opposite. I'm sick of this happening - it's apparently gay, sanguine, and so bad that I lucked out and am literally nonplussed. Aarrggh!