海角大神

If you are sick to your stomach, are you feeling 鈥渘auseous鈥� or 鈥渘auseated鈥�? Are the organic cotton pajamas 鈥渇lammable鈥� or 鈥渋nflammable鈥�?聽

People can have strong feelings about these word pairs, insisting that one usage is correct and the other 鈥渋rritating.鈥� What are the differences in meaning here? Are they worth preserving, or should we admit that English has evolved and move on?

Nauseous derives from the Latin word nauseosus, meaning 鈥渢o cause nausea.鈥� In the most rigid view, the English word thus means 鈥渞epellent, offensive, causing nausea,鈥� and using it any other way is 鈥渁n abomination,鈥� as someone once confided to me at a party. If you are sick, in this view, you must say, 鈥淚 am nauseated,鈥� since 鈥淚 feel nauseous鈥� means that you believe you are repulsive.

Etymology is not destiny, however, and this distinction was never as firm as sticklers like to make out. When nauseous first appeared in English in the 17th century, it was also used to describe people with weak stomachs, defined in one of the first English dictionaries as 鈥渄isposed to vomit.鈥� Time has sanctioned this second definition: It has been used for 鈥渟ick, suffering from nausea鈥� since the 1800s.

Fowler鈥檚 Dictionary of Modern English Usage calls the nauseous/nauseated rule a 鈥渕yth鈥� and claims that nauseous is now used for 鈥渇eeling sick鈥� twice as often as for 鈥渋nspiring sickness.鈥� It is time to let this fight go.

Though people may judge you but will not misunderstand you if you say 鈥淚 feel nauseous,鈥� flammable/inflammable really is confusing. The words seem to be opposites, like combustible and incombustible. The prefix 鈥渋n- 鈥� often means 鈥渘ot,鈥� as incombustible and incapable demonstrate, so it might seem that inflammable should mean 鈥渘ot burnable.鈥� But the word was created from a different sense of in-, meaning 鈥渋n or into,鈥� and inflammable thus means the opposite: 鈥渃apable of being ignited.鈥� Inflammable was alone for 200 years until, in an attempt to avoid confusion that only increased it, flammable was coined in 1813.聽

In the early 20th century in efforts to increase public safety, fire safety officials debated what best to call things that easily go up in flames. They decided that inflammable was too likely to be misinterpreted and decided that flammable should be used for 鈥渃ombustible鈥� and nonflammable for 鈥渋ncombustible.鈥澛�

Even though inflammable is a lovely word with the authority of history on its side, we should probably give it up. It is vital that we know immediately whether a gas is likely to explode near a flame or not, whether we have bought fire-
resistant children鈥檚 clothing or not. By the time we remember that inflammable doesn鈥檛 mean what it looks like it means, it might be too late.