Sunday, January 24, 2010

Dictionary.com mistake

I always knew that euphemism is substituting a word that could be offensive, vulgar for one that sounds nicer. And when I heard the word dysphemism I immediately knew that it was the opposite. In dictionary.com (which I use very often), they put this definition of dysphemism, which is completely wrong: Dys⋅phe⋅mism noun 1. the substitution of a harsh, disparaging, or unpleasant expression for a more neutral one. 2. an expression so substituted. Eu⋅phe⋅mism noun 1. the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt. THIS SHOULD BE OPPOSITE. It just made me think of other words that I don't know, if they got other ones wrong. We should be so careful when we use these sites, double check and always make sure it is correct, especially with wikipedia. I did an experiment and added a sentence in one article (not important article) and it hasn't been deleted at all.

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