Random Peeve 1
The incorrect use of the word peruse. I am all for the evolution of words. English majors need jobs too. However, it is unacceptable to have the word evolve into its opposite meaning. Have you ever been told to go peruse a document. This is now a lose-lose situation. If the person uses the word correctly, I should examine the document thoroughly. If the person misused the word and just wanted me to 'skim' the document I will waste my time. Language is to get rid of the ambiguity that grunts and hand waving created.
posted by Ben Loftin @ 7:13 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
According to the OED:
"c. To read through or over; (generally) to read. In later use also: to browse, skim. Also occas. intr.
Modern dictionaries and usage guides, perh. influenced by the word's earlier history in English, have sometimes claimed that the only ‘correct’ usage is in reference to reading closely or thoroughly (cf. senses 4a, 4b). However, peruse has been a broad synonym for read since the 16th cent., encompassing both careful and cursory reading; Johnson defined and used it as such. The implication of leisureliness, cursoriness, or haste is therefore not a recent development, although it is usually found in less formal contexts and is less frequent in earlier use (see quot. 1589 for an early example). The specific sense of browsing or skimming emerged relatively recently, generally in ironic or humorous inversion of the formal sense of thoroughness. Cf. SCAN v. for a similar development and range of senses."
The quote referenced is this:
"G. PUTTENHAM Arte Eng. Poesie I. xxviii. 45 An Epitaph is..pithie, quicke and sententious for the passer by to peruse, and iudge vpon without any long tariaunce."
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