- comment
Vivian J. Paige - body
- Bush misimpresses me.
- comment Jim Patrick
- body
- It sounds like someone had a faulty or mistaken impression that misimpressions wasn't a real word.
- comment Charles
- body
- I for one would be surprised to find Bush using a non-word in a weekly radio address. Those are written ahead of time, and read.
- comment Mike
- body
- While "misimpression" is in fact a dictionary word (which hardly means anything, since "aint't" is in there, too) to set the prefix "mis" before the word "impression" is a "misuse".
The basic meaning of the prefix mis- is “bad; badly; wrong; wrongly.” Thus misfortune means “bad fortune” and misbehave means “to behave badly.” Likewise, a misdeed is “a wrong deed” and misdo means “to do wrongly.” Mis- forms compounds primarily by attaching to verbs: mishear, misremember. Mis- also frequently forms compounds by attaching to nouns that come from verbs: miscalculation, mismanagement, mispronunciation.
Impression is not a noun that becomes a verb.
People misuse prefixes all the time. For instance, the word "regardless" many times is found with the prefix "ir" before it , making a new word, "irregardless". Please note that irregardless can also be found on dictionary.com.
Just because something becomes commonly accepted as used in the english language, it does not make the usage proper. Such is the way languages die.
- comment
- body
- The basic meaning of the prefix mis- is “bad; badly; wrong; wrongly.” Thus misfortune means “bad fortune” and misbehave means “to behave badly.” Likewise, a misdeed is “a wrong deed” and misdo means “to do wrongly.”
"mis-" attached to "impression" means pretty much what it means when attached to "understand." They just can't use the word "bad" in the definition because it would make a misimpression.
Mis- forms compounds primarily by attaching to verbs: mishear, misremember. Mis- also frequently forms compounds by attaching to nouns that come from verbs: miscalculation, mismanagement, mispronunciation.
Impression comes from impress, which is a verb. Although you don't say "misimpress," you don't say "misdo" either even though you do say "misdeed." Even if it doesn't fit the pattern to a T, it is still a legitimate use the prefix. Otherwise we'd have to toss out words like misdeed and mistrial. Also, according to my old Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, "misimpression" was first used in 1670. Even if it was a mistake, it has long since become a legitimate part of the language.
5 Comments:
The basic meaning of the prefix mis- is “bad; badly; wrong; wrongly.” Thus misfortune means “bad fortune” and misbehave means “to behave badly.” Likewise, a misdeed is “a wrong deed” and misdo means “to do wrongly.” Mis- forms compounds primarily by attaching to verbs: mishear, misremember. Mis- also frequently forms compounds by attaching to nouns that come from verbs: miscalculation, mismanagement, mispronunciation.
Impression is not a noun that becomes a verb.
People misuse prefixes all the time. For instance, the word "regardless" many times is found with the prefix "ir" before it , making a new word, "irregardless". Please note that irregardless can also be found on dictionary.com.
Just because something becomes commonly accepted as used in the english language, it does not make the usage proper. Such is the way languages die.
"mis-" attached to "impression" means pretty much what it means when attached to "understand." They just can't use the word "bad" in the definition because it would make a misimpression.
Mis- forms compounds primarily by attaching to verbs: mishear, misremember. Mis- also frequently forms compounds by attaching to nouns that come from verbs: miscalculation, mismanagement, mispronunciation.
Impression comes from impress, which is a verb. Although you don't say "misimpress," you don't say "misdo" either even though you do say "misdeed." Even if it doesn't fit the pattern to a T, it is still a legitimate use the prefix. Otherwise we'd have to toss out words like misdeed and mistrial. Also, according to my old Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, "misimpression" was first used in 1670. Even if it was a mistake, it has long since become a legitimate part of the language.
Post a Comment
Home