Ugh, nonplussed indeed.

There are a handful of words whose definitions refuse to stay in my brain. Bemused is one. Nonplussed is another.

For the million and twelfth time, I looked up nonplussed today, and, oh, that’s right, it means surprised and confused…

but wait, what the fuck?

“In standard use, nonplussed means ‘surprised and confused’: : the hostility of the new neighbor’s refusal left Mrs. Walker nonplussed. In North American English, a new use has developed in recent years, meaning ‘unperturbed’—more or less the opposite of its traditional meaning [emphasis added] : hoping to disguise his confusion, he tried to appear nonplussed . This new use probably arose on the assumption that non- was the normal negative prefix and must therefore have a negative meaning.”

This is the worst!

Why does North American English want me to be North America’s worst English teacher??