February 21, 2004

Words needed. Here are two things that it would be nice to have a word for:

1. The inaccurate sense of bodily dimension caused by wearing a backpack that leads a person to think they can turn around in a space that would be adequate if they were not wearing a backpack.

2. The sense that a word is the wrong word because when you think of it you add on some other words that it is often found with in a phrase, even though you are not using that phrase. For example, I cannot stand the use of the word "Likewise" to begin a sentence. I've got to change it to "Similarly" because it causes me to think "Likewise, I'm sure"--which is a bit weird because people don't say "Likewise, I'm sure" anymore and in fact it's hard to remember why they ever did. For some reason, I picture Jean Harlow saying it.

UPDATE: My son John offers two more examples of the "sense that a word is wrong...":
"Presume" suggests "Dr. Livingstone, I presume"
"Surely" suggests "Surely you jest"

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