infamous

[Brian Harrington]

Is it just me, or does anyone else notice the mis-use of the word "infamous". I see it all the time, even in "professionally" written articles. "Infamous" is being known for something bad or negative, not something good. Why do people think that it is interchangeable with "famous." It drives me bananas.

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Infamous for being infamous?

Maybe it’s „cool gangsta rap“ slang? (Like all those „bras“ calling themselves „bastards“ as a term of endearment?!)

[Ken Finch]

The word “famous” actually means “ well Known in my understanding. I think what we are experiencing is just another example of how the meaning of words have changed over the years. Another prime example is the word “rubbish “, a noun which is now also used as a noun and also an adjective. Yes , it is annoying but that is just the way languages change over the years. Just think of the way we speak today compared to Shakespeares days

[Ken Finch]

Correction I meant to say verb not noun. I guess I am beginning to lose he plot😉

[Brian Harrington]

Right, my point is people are saying infamous for people who are famous for good things. It's flat-out incorrrect. The meaning of the word infamous has not changed. What has changed is more and more people without a command of our language are allowed to write professionally. I'm not talking about forums, blogs, and things like that. I'm talking professional writers on professional newspapers.

Notorious is another example. It's a synonym for infamous. People use that incorrectly, too.

[Phil Moors]

We have entered The Twilight Zone

[Ken Finch]

Perhaps they did not pay enough attention when they were at school or their teachers first language was not English.😉 when I was at Secondary school in my examination year, My teacher of French was Polish. He was good at French and Polish but not at English, so the French into English was somewhat “lost in transaction”.

[Brian Harrington]

It's so easy to look up definitions now that there's no excuse to mis-use a word.

We used to have to take out a dictionary to look up words. If you didn't know how to spell a word, people would say to look it up in a dictionary. But if you don't know how to spell it, how can you look it up???

I heard someone on the radio yesterday use "notorious" incorrectly.