Comments by "John Berry" (@user-ud6ui7zt3r) on "Words we've ruined." video.

  1. We can be overwhelmed. We can be underwhelmed. Why can't we simply be whelmed ?
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  2. I like the word mesmerized. I can't think of a better word to mean mesmerized than mesmerized. Just listening to the pronunciation makes me feel mesmerized. In truth, however, the word is derived from the last name of a man who dealt with the manipulation of perceptions.
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  3. According to a comedian featured on DryBar Stand-up Comedy, back at the time of William Shakespeare (the 1560s??), ol' Bill had a vocabulary of 15000 words. Conversely, here in the present day, the average English-speaking American only has a working vocabulary of 3000 words.
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  4. I used to own a 1903 unabridged Webster's dictionary. One day, I decided to look-up the word empathy. To my astonishment, the word was not listed. Apparently, the word did not exist prior to 1903.
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