Fulsome & enormity

In addition to often distorting the truth, big media can also distort the English language. I've had a pet peeve about the abuse of the word "enormity" for some time now--it is a wonderful synonym for great wickedness or a monstrous evil but has been abused by those who think it means enormousness. It doesn't, even though modern dictionaries have had to acknowledge its use to mean of great size.

There are plenty other examples but one that I just noticed recently is the abuse of the word "fulsome." See how Tim Russert misused this word on Meet the Press: "Should the president not give more fulsome testimony before the full commission?" Fulsome is a great word for unctuous (also a great word), excessive flattery. Fulsome has the connotation of being offensive--and while it can be used to simply mean "abundant" it really doesn't fit the context of Russert's question. Rather, like those who use "enormity" to try and sound more erudite than if they said "enormousness," Russert was most probably trying to come up with a more literate sounding way of saying "fuller." Actually he should have just said "full testimony" since you can't get fuller than full, and used "whole commission" instead of "full commission" to avoid the double usage.

Do readers have other examples of our language under attack? Please leave them in the comments.