You may be nauseous, I am just nauseated

[colliemommie]

Every time someone in pregnant complains about how "nauseous" she is, I can't help but laugh. I realize it seems to be a popular colloquial usage to use the word to describe feeling sick, but being popular does not make it right. I unilaterally revoke the Humpty Dumpty Law in this case. I don't care how much extra you pay "nauseous", it means "causing nausea", the same as "nauseating".

So, while I will not argue with anyone who claims she is "nauseous", I steadfastly remain merely nauseated.

Comments

[ciaobellamamma.livejournal.com]

First, what's the Humpty Dumpty Law? ...because in the three unabridged dictionaries I just looked in, both nauseous and nauseated mean the same thing: to be affected by nausea. I suppose that if the Humpty Dumpty Law has something to do with that, and you revoke the HD Law, then that explains that!

and yes, I am a dork and actually looked it up, haha

(Plus, the suffix '-ous' means "possessing', right? So it would kinda make sense?)

[colliemommie.livejournal.com]

In Alice in Wonderland, Humpty Dumpty makes words mean whatever he wants by "paying them extra".

Nauseous, meaning "causing nausea" is the traditional usage of the word, though "feeling nausea" seems to be a new popular use. It still makes me laugh though.

The first two definitions my google-fu conjured up:

Source: WordNet
nauseous adj : causing or able to cause nausea; "a nauseating smell"; "nauseous offal"; "a sickening stench" [syn: nauseating, noisome, loathsome, offensive, sickening, vile]


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Nauseous \Nau"seous\ (?; 277), a. [L. nauseosus.]
Causing, or fitted to cause, nausea; sickening; loathsome; disgusting; exciting abhorrence; as, a nauseous drug or medicine. -- Nau"seous*ly, adv. -- Nau"seous*ness, n.
The nauseousness of such company disgusts a reasonable man. --Dryden.