Common Usage: The Brute Force Attack of language.

Sometimes it seems that the English language, or at least the usage guide for it, is susceptible to brute force attacks.Common usage, or what I like to call repeated misuse, can eventually force the dictionary to acquiesce and accept the misuses as alternate uses.

Case in point: Momentarily. When I was growing up, this word meant lasting for a short time. If you look in the dictionary now, it lists an alternate use of after a period of a moment. Was this always the way, or was the latter added? I blame CVS. Yes, that's right, CVS - the Drugstore. It's a large company, therefore it is powerful. When you call the pharmacy and get placed on hold, they tell you that "someone will be with you momentarily." I think they mean that someone will be with me in a moment. Since people constantly hear this from what they view to be a reputable source, they think it must be right.

There are other examples too: T.V. personality Bear Grylls uses the word disorientated constantly. The word I think he means to use is disoriented. At first, he was the only person I heard using that word. Then one day at work, a coworker said it. My coworker is also British, so now I was wondering if it's a Brit thing.

Looking it up in the dictionary reveals that it is a "real" word. I still don't buy it.It's got an extra syllable. I write it off as the same linguistic loophole that allows them to add an extra syllable to aluminum. They pronounce it Al-you-min-ee-um. See that? An extra syllable. There is no  I after the first N. That last syllable is UM. Period. End of discussion.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for new words making their way into the dictionary, cause it allows more flexibility in Scrabble and Words With Friends. I've gotten a lot of mileage from Za.

Sometime, we can talk about the words that people use WRONG, but that haven't yet made it into the Dictionary. I'm looking at you, Alanis Morissette.