What's in a word?
be·muse
/bɪˈmyuz/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[bi-myooz] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
-verb (used with object), -mused, -mus·ing. to bewilder or confuse (someone).
[Origin: 1695-1705; be- + muse
]
-Related forms
be·muse·ment, noun Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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This sprang to mind just because I've seen the word bemused pretty often recently. This is a word that had confused me for a long time. It's not that I didn't know what it meant - I did. But only if I thought about it for awhile. Everytime I saw the phrase "He had a bemused expression on his face," my first thoughts are "Why is he laughing? What's so amusing about that?" instead of "He's confused." Because "bemuse" sounds far too much like "amuse" to me than "confuse."
No wonder I've never used the word much in my stories. At least I don't think I have. And if I have, I'd have to double-check the meaning of those sentences to make sure I really meant for the character to be confused and bewildered, not amused.
Does anyone else have words like that that bother them? Words that mean one thing to you but seem to mean something different to everyone else?