i'm feeling a little chalant...

[pipistrellafelix]

Intellectually I know that "nonplussed" means perplexed, bewildered, to be thrown by something. But it sounds so much like "nonchalant" that whenever I read or write the word "nonplussed" it doesn't mean to me what it ought to.

Possibly because if one were "plussed"--although that's not a word in that sense, but then neither is "chalant"--if one were "plussed," I feel like it ought to be a synonym for "perturbed."

Fortunately English isn't based on what I feel like words should mean. It still throws me, though. (One might say I was...nonplussed.)

Comments

[leeann-marie.livejournal.com]

I actually always thought it meant roughly the same thing as "nonchalant." I am nonplussed now, too!

Also I like trying to use "chalant" as a word. It amuses me.

[elanor-two.livejournal.com]

I think part of the problem is that most people do, & then they use it as such, & so continue to be confused. Funnily enough I saw that--incorrect--usage of it just a few hours after I'd posted this, & I went, aha! You don't know either!


Ahah, I am often chalant...