Thursday, September 19, 2013

An Amazing Post

When did 'amazing' change in meaning from "causing great surprise or sudden wonder", which is what this online dictionary says, to "really nice"?

I was reading a travel guide for Ecuador just now and it says, "All beaches in Ecuador are amazing ..." Really? A beach might be capable of causing great surprise and sudden wonder if, perhaps, it lacked water, or some other element one normally associates with beaches; but otherwise probably not -- though it might well be delightful, pleasant, and/or fun.

I get very tired of this particular word usage, which seems to be near-universal now. It is a symptom, I'm afraid, of America's increasing verbal poverty, which has become ... er, amazing. Or maybe not.

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