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

[Matt Doughty <wyndigo@example.com>]

On Mon, May 26, 2003 at 07:00:21PM +0900, J. David Beutel wrote:
> 
> 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.
> 

It properly mean extreme with a common understood meaning of extremely good.  
The dictionary confirms this. If those 200,000,000 semi-literate Americans 
mistakenly assume that the following sentence:

When the building exploded it made a "terrific" mess.

to mean...

When the building exploded it made a "good" mess.

Then of course the dictionary is right, and they are illiterate.  Unless
of course you consider the Humpty Dumpty approach to language somehow
valid.  Common misusage doesn't make it correct.


--Matt