Call me old-fashioned

But I am somebody for whom the word 'fragrance' will never be a verb.

Comments

Mindy Tarquini said…
Sounds like a word you'd hear on 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy':

"First, we style him, proper sports jacket, turn of collar, that sort of thing. After which, he's fragranced. Then we make certain he doesn't forget his hostess gift."
Ouch, that sounds weird.

"The perfume fragrances the air." ? Don't think it works.

But you'll see, if enough people mis-use the word that way and it's taken up by reporters and such, it will end up in the Oxford dictionary a few years hence. Happened with more than one German word I still refuse to use.

Why use zögerlich if there's a perfectly fine adverb zögernd (hesitatingly, deliberately). Argh, grrr.
Mindy Tarquini said…
That's what happened with the word 'linkage', Gabriele. I hate that word. Why isn't the word 'link' enough?

Did I ever mention that I studied German for a year? I learned enough to calm down a German lady in an airport who was freaking out because her son's plane was late and she thought the people at the airline were telling her the plane had crashed.

Anyway, I don't think I ever got as far as adverbs.
JamesO said…
Curiously enough, this post was inspired by a packet of toilet freshener blocks I bought last weekend of which the manufacturer claimes it 'Cleans, Foams & Fragrances.'

Ad Men and Estate Agents (realtors) bastardize our language. See? When was 'bastard' a verb, either?

Bastard, bastard, bastard.
Toooooo funny. Enjoyed this one.

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