Re: [OT] Terrific - was: [tlug] email programs

["J. David Beutel" <jdb@example.com>]

On Mon, 26 May 2003, Godwin Stewart wrote:

> It's a bit like the French word "Formidable" which means exactly the same
> things - in both the good and bad senses.
> 
> What's so astounding is that the French don't know their own language, let
> alone any foreign languages, and I, the English 16 year old kid in his first
> year of school in France, had to explain to my fellow classmates what
> "formidable" really meant on one occasion because they didn't understand the
> context.
> 
> <sigh...>

But in that sense, a word means whatever the speaker intends it to mean, 
and perhaps whatever the intended audience understands it to mean, 
regardless of what's in any dictionary.  I think most English speakers (at 
least in the U.S.) would understand "terrific" to mean "good".  So who's 
wrong, the dictionary, or 200,000,000 semi-literate Americans (including 
yours truly)?  It's not a facetious question, because there are other 
English speaking countries.

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