Robert Hartwell Fiske's Dictionary of Unendurable English by Robert Hartwell Fiske

Author:Robert Hartwell Fiske [Fiske, Robert Hartwell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781451651348
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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Again, in U.S. Senate and House Committee hearings, the FDA conceded that the packaging and recalled drug violations were minor and posed no immanent health hazard to the public.

—W. Lloyd Eldridge, The Tullahoma News

The imminent hazard, if not to our health, is to our humanity. Using the English language badly is hazardous to our humanity.

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immerge Misused for emerge. • But fear not, the hangover monster will soon go back to its cave, but threatens to re-immerge next weekend. USE re-emerge. • As far as personality disorders there are theories that there are some personality traits that we can either exhibit automatically or will immerge under some stimulus. USE emerge. • We are those stubborn little caterpillars that given the grace of God, we may immerge beautiful butterflies. USE emerge. • As the seeds start to develop in this unisexual plant, bear in mind that they have an 18-month germination factor and the embryo starts to immerge in the fall. USE emerge.

Immerge means to submerge or immerse in or as if in a liquid; emerge, much the opposite of immerge, means to rise from or as if from immersion; to come forth or become evident.

immunity Confused with impunity. Immunity means exemption from legal prosecution; freedom from something unpleasant or burdensome; resistance to or protection against a disease (“A Northampton County judge has granted immunity from prosecution for a reluctant witness in the John Hirko Jr. trial, making it more likely he will testify”; “He cited a study conducted several years ago in which 85 percent of children who had one shot without the booster developed protective immunity against the flu”). Impunity means exemption from punishment or harm (“At times he has operated with the impunity of a man who has nothing to lose”; “In too many cases, these crimes have been committed with impunity, which has only encouraged others to flout the laws of humanity”).

immure Misused for inure. • So immured to pain and scarred from years of squig hunting is the madcap that he is hard to wound and much more formidable than the average redeye. USE inured. • Violence today seems to have become a hallmark of modern society; it is so pervasive that many children are becoming immured to it. USE inured. • We can even get immured to low-level constant pain because our brain starts to presume it is a constant that it need not process. USE inured.

Immure is to enclose within or as if within walls; to imprison or confine. Inure is to make used to something difficult, painful, or unpleasant; to habituate.

impactful Misused for influential (or similar words). • Positive and impactful progress requires confidence, strategic vision, and the energetic change agents who will lead the way to new paths of success. USE effective. • Let Exclusive show you how our motivational, impactful, focused campaigns can translate into revenue growth and expanded opportunities. USE powerful. • He said his job is to attract audiences with quality content; it’s the advertisers’ job to make their marketing messages impactful.

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