Nauseous or Nauseated?

Probably some of you have already rolled your eyes. You may even be one of the people I have e-mailed to say that you have used the wrong word in your article. Well, this is early in my career as a blogger, so let me get it out on the table early on so we can all relax.

Too many times I have read a comment like this in a blog, article, letter, e-mail, or some other form of communication:

"I couldn't believe what I saw. It made me nauseous."

What the person has just said is, "It made me become a person who made others sick to their stomach." I don't think that's what they meant to say. But that's what nauseous means.

What they meant to say was "It made me nauseated." That means that what the person saw made them sick to their own stomach. "It made me barf!" It's an easy mistake to make when you are trying to convey something using language which is common to your culture.

Julie Roads, who writes the blog Writing Roads, helped me understand the dilemma that faces writers. Do you use the incorrect term, recognizing the error, but wanting to write in the language familiar to the reader? Or do you use the grammatically correct language which sounds stilted and awkward to the reader? The object, after all, is to create a piece which the potential reader will read, and will not skip over because it's awkward. It's a real choice.

As I have said in my profile (sidebar to the right) I am pre-conditioned by my background to language usage, grammar and spelling . It is ingrained in me and I can't help it. But I can make the choice to employ the best usage possible for myself, and try not to be judgmental or obnoxious when others choose to go in a different direction. It's a more appropriate thing to do rather than becoming what some call a word Nazi.

But no matter how hard I try, my guess is that I won't succeed.

Image credit: Megan Simpson