♠ Friday, March 19, 2004
Your English Lesson for Today
I've seen a few blogs lately use the phrase, "So, it didn't phase me when ..."
These are the two biggest uses of the word "phase:" (from Merriam-Webster.com)
- phase n. : a particular appearance or state in a regularly recurring cycle of changes <phases of the moon>
- phase vt. : to introduce in stages -- often used with in <phase in new models>
Notice that the verb—the second one—has nothing to do with being surprised, shocked, or whatever it is that people mean when they say "So, it didn't phase me when ..."
The word you mean is faze:
- faze vt. : to disturb the composure of : DISCONCERT, DAUNT <nothing fazed her>
Okay, I've got it off my chest. Bloggers are, by and large, a literate group, for fairly obvious reasons. So when I see many different people make the same error, and it's made not because they are illiterate (and many errors are simply illiterate), but because they're using a word that simply doesn't appear in print very often, it's time to do my part to educate America.
Don't you feel smart, now?
