Barbarians at the Gate
From Saturday’s Irish Times, page 15:
“..in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, you can see the enormity of the task…”
No, you can see the size of the task or the vastness of the task.
Same paper page 9:
On a Senator who dislikes NAMA: “We were expecting a very heated discussion, seeing as he is such a public protagonist of Nama.”
Antagonist, perhaps?
July 4th, 2012 at 18:23
Your comment about the incorrect use of “enormity” set me searching for its correct use. I am none the wiser (nor, as FE Smith might have said, any better informed). I gather it should not be used as a synonym for “enourmousness”, but I never would have used that particular word in the first place. Can you give a correct use of the word and explain your reasons?
July 4th, 2012 at 20:10
Thank you for caring. OED suggests “a thorough search disclosed the full enormity of the crime”. Dictionary concedes, however, that current senses have been influenced by enormous. It then has a box on usage which provides as follows: “It is not uncommon for enormity to be used as a synonym for hugeness or immensity…some people regard this use as wrong, arguing that enormity in its original sense meant ‘a crime’ and should therefore continue to be used only of contexts in which a negative moral judgement is implied.” Some people would include me.
July 5th, 2012 at 20:24
Hopefully, me and other until now disinterested parties will learn from the enormity of this lesson. (See what I did there?)
July 8th, 2012 at 13:37
This begs a question. See what I did there?