2-1-04 Enormity/Enormousness

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="042d05a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Big Ring Media Team, Inc.</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Big Ring Media Team, Inc."><B>home</B></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="043d2123.jpg"> <div> Click on this link to return to <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Word Watch by Date">Word Watch by Date</A>.</div> <div> Click on this link to go to <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Word Watch by Subject">Word Watch by Subject</A>.</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>2-1-04 Enormity/Enormousness</I></div> <div> We've seen misuse of “enormity” quite a bit in the past year or so. Someone decided “enormity” sounds much more impressive than “enormousness,” used “enormity” instead, and hence a trend was born.</div> <div> Unfortunately, “enormity” and “enormousness” are not synonyms. We know that “enormousness” refers to size or scope, but “enormity” refers to character or nature. As defined by our Random House Webster's College Dictionary, “enormity” means “outrageous or heinous character; atrociousness; monstrousness; <I>the enormity of the crime</I>.”</div> <div> While hardly the greatest enormity visited upon our language, the misuse of “enormity” should nonetheless be avoided.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>