Archive for Words
Words with no positives
Unravelled. No one says something is “ravelled,” not even with yarn. When you take a shank of wool and roll it into a ball of yarn, well, you roll it, you don’t ravel it.
Inept. Have I ever heard anyone say “ept,” as in, that was an “ept” job you did trimming those rosebushes?
Inalienable. Is there ever a time to say “alienable?”
Regardless. Regardless is used to mean that something is the case, in light of any circumstances. Do we ever say that a thing is not the case, in certain circumstances? Such as, “this warranty is valid, regardless of how many times you may drop your cell phone from the roof” would become “this warranty becomes invalid, regardful of the amount of times you drop your cell phone from the roof.”
Insurmountable. I never, ever say that something is surmountable. “That pile of laundry is daunting, but surmountable. Just give me an afternoon.” Insurmountable also smacks of sexism. A woman would never look at an impossible task as something she couldn’t mount.
Discombobulated. I’m not sure this is even a word, but we use it. The opposite would be copascetic, not combobulated.
