I've noticed an outrageous trend. It's this: snuck. And unfortunately it's not a trend; it's actually in the dictionary as an alternate past tense of the word "sneak"-- like the obnoxious little brother of "sneaked."
It's crept into my college dictionary, and that upsets me.
Believe it or not, I'm not an early-adapter when it comes to words. The thought makes me cringe.
Words become legitimate when we bestow the combination of letters and sounds with meaning, with experience and story. When a word has an established meaning and carries a widely-experienced connotation then it can find its place alphabetically in the beautiful book.
Unfortunately a lot of the new words that make their way into the dictionary (aside from all the technology-related words) are ugly spin-offs of real words-- like a Hollywood remake of a once-magnificent film. Even saying the word "snuck" makes my mouth feel ugly. Go ahead, try it.
Feels sloppy right? Missing that clean end that you get with "sneaked" and the feeling of deliberate treachery you get from considering "sneaky."
1 comment:
I tried to use that word in an email the other day and it came up as being spelled wrong...well duh! B/C it's not a real word. My vote is for sneaked as well!
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