You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means…

Yes, indeed, language changes over time. Words that once meant one thing come to mean another, and in some cases, will completely reverse their meanings, or hold contradictory meanings.

The stand-out recent example is the sense of ‘figuratively’ being ascribed to ‘literally’. Even closet grammar Nazis will start to froth at the mouth over this one…

The subject for today’s post, however, is enormity.

Definition: great evil or wickedness.

However, the sheer number of people mistakenly using it to mean ‘enormousness’, or ‘immensity’ (i.e. very large) has meant it now has this alternate meaning.

I can’t help but smile when I hear the winning politician say, after an unexpected election outcome, ‘I’m still coming to terms with the enormity of it all’…

I do not think that word means what you think it means...