Mostly clear with occasional controversy

This week we come to you with the words that can be referred to as controversial in English language. You might wonder what makes a word controversial or, shall we say (pun intended, see below), a word with disputed usage. Well, some words give rise to strong feelings, either due to different or opposing opinions about their use, or due to their odd spelling or some other feature that triggers heated discussions, or whether the word is a proper word at all.

The controversial words in English language on our list are introduced alphabetically, because controversy cannot be measured and they rank the same place, and, as far as we are concerned, they should all be recipients of an award for their contribution to the promotion of zillion shades of language and its charm.

Fishy characters

• Amidst & amongst

This two deserve to be on the list because they are obsolete forms and simply variant spellings of the far more commonly used prepositions amid and among, with the desire to sound posh. Both words are more common in British English than American English, though they are used to some degree in both. Maybe they are here to remind us of the flexibility and richness of the English language. Note, also the words, whilst and while.

• Biweekly

Oxford Languages classifies the word either as an adjective, adverb or noun, but in all cases it refers to something done or occurring every two weeks or twice a week. Seriously? So, is it every two weeks or is it twice a week? Because those two concepts are not the same. Anyone?

• Data

In reality, most people really don’t care whether data is treated as singular or plural. In everyday usage, data is used as a singular mass noun. Technically, “data” is a plural noun; the plural form of “datum”. However, in practice it is used with both singular and plural verbs. When it is used with a singular verb it is being treated as a noncount noun, like “information”. The general rule is to use a plural verb with “data” in formal, academic, or scientific writing; i.e. “the data don't suggest…” Enough said already!

• Fortuitously

This word is on the list because we don’t think it will make any other list, except eventually the list of obsolete words, because we think this is where it’s heading. Some use it interchangeably with fortunately, as they both refer to something that comes or happens by chance. We suggest sticking to fortunately altogether.

• Irregardless

Insults and profanities on the side, irregardless is probably the word that upsets people the most. Even the spell checker underlines it. Use it with caution. It is a dangerous, but clever player. Many people find irregardless to be a nonsensical word, because the ir- prefix usually indicates negation, but in this case, it functions as an intensifier. Merriam-Webster defines it as nonstandard with the same meaning the “regardless” or “irrespective”. It seems that someone had trouble deciding which of the earlier ones to use and simply combined both.

• Lay & lie

Lay is a transitive verb, so it requires a direct object. Its use is presented in the following sentences: She lays his clothes on the bed for him every morning. The chicken is laying an egg.

Lie is an intransitive verb and cannot take an object. Example: I love to lie on the beach and do nothing. We were lying (not laying] in the sun all morning.

So far so good. But it gets confusing when their past forms take the spotlight. I fell asleep as soon as I lay (not laid) on my bed. The word lay is the past form of lie, (past participle of lay is lain; lie takes past forms lay and lain). Therefore: The letters had lain (not laid) there all month. Did someone say confusing? You can say that again!

There is also the verb lie with regular past forms with the meaning “not to tell the truth”. Each time my boss asks me how many reports I’ve examined, I lie through my teeth.

• Nauseous

Traditionally nauseous means “causing nausea”, a feeling of nausea or disgust, and is synonymous with “nauseating”. There is also “nauseated”, meaning to become affected with nausea. This is actually the traditional way to use the word nauseated. For example, if you were feeling sick to your stomach, you would say, “I’m feeling nauseated”, not nauseous. Come to think of it, all this talk about nausea and feeling sick is slightly discomforting.

• Queue

Oh, this wretched queue. Because of its obvious attributes, it has the honour if being featured on many lists, however, rather unflattering ones. Most of its five letters are silent, it is French by origin and it is typically used by the British. Mind, however, that cue has nothing to do with queue, unless somebody told you to go stand in a queue on cue. See, what we did here?

• Shall

Shall is an interesting and peculiar word. Grammatically, it is one of the modal or helping verbs like can, could, will, would, must, might and should to add meaning to the main verb in a sentence by expressing possibility, ability, permission, or obligation. “Shall” is interesting because in ordinary English it is the least used modal verb. It is actually commonly used in legal documents, such as contracts or agreements. In everyday spoken language, you would just sound stuck-up and condescending. That’s not what we’re aiming for.

• Thusly

Oh, don’t even let me get started on this one. Thusly may not be quite as controversial as it is silly. It was coined by educated writers to make fun of uneducated people trying to sound refined, or shall we say, pompous (pun intended for sure). It is tagged as informal, whereby the word it derives from, i.e. the adverb thus, is tagged as literary or formal. Some linguists refer to it as a non-word and a superfluous form of the above adverb. Nevertheless, it seems thusly has been also slowly finding its way to popular usage.

Mostly sunny with occasional questions

We are pretty sure that from now on you will never look at these words the same again. Perhaps you have grown fond of them, or you may have decided to ban them from your vocabulary forever. We are not quite sure what the intended aim of the article was, but one thing is certain: we have expanded our vocabulary and broadened our horizons. Do any other words raise your eyebrows? What tickles your pickle? Add a comment below.