Pedants' Paradise

[Maclintick]

... as a (non-paid) pedant I was alarmed to find that 'nonplussed' is in the process of changing its meaning. Apparently it can now 'mean' (pertick'ly in the US), rather than 'disconcerted' &c - 'unruffled, unconcerned' -

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/nonplussed

Thanks for the warning, Vints. That is truly alarming. One will have to remain vigilant in case the linguistic bedfellows of nonplussed, baffled & bewildered, likewise drift into lexicographical purgatory.

[LMcD]

Thanks for the warning, Vints. That is truly alarming. One will have to remain vigilant in case the linguistic bedfellows of nonplussed, baffled & bewildered, likewise drift into lexicographical purgatory.

Not forgetting bewitched and bothered.

[Maclintick]

Not forgetting bewitched and bothered.

I’m befuddled by the suggestion that bewitched and bothered are acceptable synonyms for nonplussed ….🥴

[AuntDaisy]

I’m befuddled by the suggestion that bewitched and bothered are acceptable synonyms for nonplussed ….🥴

Perhaps LMcD hoped you'd sing it?

[Maclintick]

Perhaps LMcD hoped you'd sing it?

I think he’d find my rendition far from bewitching - & become bothered and bewildered …🫣

[Serial_Apologist]

I think he’d find my rendition far from bewitching - & become bothered and bewildered …🫣

Logically one could assume the corollary of nonplussed to be in the negative.

[Pulcinella]

Would that be a plus, then?

[Serial_Apologist]

Would that be a plus, then?

In the House of Lords it would be a Sir Plus.

[Pulcinella]

In the House of Lords it would be a Sir Plus.

[Maclintick]

Logically one could assume the corollary of nonplussed to be in the negative.

That would certainly be in keeping with the most recent "semantic drift" identified in the article linked by Vints in #6524, in which nonplussed equates to unruffled or unconcerned, though perhaps the most pleasing corollary might be nonchalant, as having the negative prefix, and as with plussed, no natural opposite chalant.

[Old Grumpy]

More on nonchalant*:

https://www.quora.com/Is-chalant-a-word-If-not-where-did-the-word-nonchalant-come-from

* I came across this wondering if there was a French word "chalant". Perhaps FF can help here.

[Maclintick]

More on nonchalant*:

https://www.quora.com/Is-chalant-a-word-If-not-where-did-the-word-nonchalant-come-from

* I came across this wondering if there was a French word "chalant". Perhaps FF can help here.

Meanwhile, chalant does appear in this heartwarming tale featuring many lost positives....

[vinteuil]

More on nonchalant*:

https://www.quora.com/Is-chalant-a-word-If-not-where-did-the-word-nonchalant-come-from

* I came across this wondering if there was a French word "chalant". Perhaps FF can help here.

... there is the (defective) verb chaloir, 'to matter', nowadays only used in a few set phrases - il ne m'en chaut, il ne m'en chalait guère it matters, mattered, not to me; Peu m'en chaut, I don't care a fig, Non qu'il m'en chaille, not that I care.

Littré in his Dictionary gives examples in other tenses and moods - il chaudra, il chaudrait, il ne peut chaloir, qu'il chaille, il chalait,
il chalut, il a chalu...

[french frank]

FF arrive trop tard (just waiting in the caffe for my tocsni with - oh, it’s here). Quora and m vinteuil are correct . Chalant is the pres part of chaloir ‘to be warm’ . So nonchalant is to be cool, calm, unconcerned &c.

[vinteuil]

...just waiting in the caffe for my tocsni with - oh, it’s here

... ah, but were they tocsni? -

https://www.hungariantidbits.com/potato-rosti-tocsni-lapcsanka-gorhony-matutka/

(all look pretty good to me... )

.