Elizabeth wrote about how a certain title is used incorrectly and I was going to leave a comment about something that drives me batty, kind of along the same lines, but then decided that since I haven't posted here in about 400 eleventy thousand years I'd just make it a blog post of my own and totally give her credit for the virtual kick in the pants she gave me.
Okay, so the pet peeve is this:
A person who is addicted to alcohol is an alcoholic. Correct?
If someone declares themselves to be addicted to chocolate they call themselves a "chocoholic", right? Or if they say they are addicted to shopping they say they are a "shopaholic", right?
IT IS WRONG, PEOPLE.
The "ohol"in alcoholic is from the word ALCOHOL. According to Wiktionary the suffix "ic" is "used to form adjectives from nouns with the meaning 'of or pertaining to'". If someone wanted to declare themselves addicted to chocolate they would be a chocolatic. Or perhaps a chocolic. A person who likes to shop is a shoppic.
Make note of it.
12 comments:
I'm such a slug of a human being for using ohol's willy nilly. I shall forever be ashamed of my follies, please do forgive me!
You just think you're something strolling back here and dropping this on us, don't you.
I think you are a picnic.
Y'know, not 30 minutes ago I was telling a story and said that back in the day, when my folks and I would each get our own 2 liter of Coca-Cola, we were real Cokaholics. Now don't I feel dumb?
WTRW: Duh..can you explain that again..only slower..and with pictures.
BAAW: Hello, I'm Jazz and I'm a Chocolic Alcholic.
Does this make you a grammaric?
Courtney
OK OK OK but what if they were addicted to narcotics? Would they be narcoticics?
IS a person addicted to sex NOT a sexoholic but a Sexic? Eh... You would PLEASE shout out "Look there is Cris!! He's Soooooo Sexic!!" when we meet at a crowded mall? PLEASEEEEEEEEEE???
"Does this make you a grammaric?"
I think it's properly pronounced "Picky Bitch".
Cap'n: Yours is correct, just make certain you use the long "o" sound in Cokaholic. Otherwise you'll get some really funny looks.
I'm ok with this. It's people that pronounce "supposedly" with a B in it that drive me nuts.
I suppose I would somehow be addicted to "Cedr"? Ha!
Ouch, my brain hurts. I left school a long time ago and grammar too. Thanks for the lesson...
Thing is, if I'm addicted to something there would be alcohol involved,case in point; if I say I'm a shopoholic that means I'm addicted to shopping while sipping a gin and tonic, if i'm a chocoholic that means I am dipping my chocolate bar in my Sailor Jerrys rum, and if I am a sexoholic that only states that I am taking frequent breaks during sex for an ice cold beer. So I believe I have been using this correctly! :)
Dictionaries are changed through continued and frequent usage. No matter how the word is used "incorrectly" now, you are using language in such a way that your spelling and pronunciation are changing usage. Therefore, continue to use the words as you see fit. Even though they might be considered in error now, they are changing the language. USE 'EM AS YOU LIKE.
FIE on the (current) rules!
MC
I generally point out the inherent absurdity of these words. Usually, I start talking about how I just can't get enough chocohol or workohol.
Of course, they stopped listening to me after I bludgeoned them over the head about how wrong it is to say "ATM Machine."
I came to make my own comment, but after reading all of the other comments (and laughing my butt off) I forgot what I wanted to say!
Cris: In my world, we just call "narcoticics" druggies!
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