Dear English Speakers: If you want to talk about a person being disconcerted, daunted, disturbed by something, the word you are looking for is faze, not phase.
Not even a series of losses at the at the casino could faze Ambassador Mollari, as long as there was someone around who would back his latest "system."
(Carrying on the long tradition in our household of using B5 to demonstrate vocabulary words.)
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the definition of faze
Faze definition, to cause to be disturbed or disconcerted; daunt: The worst insults cannot faze him. See more.
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Agreed! I hate this misuse.
Setting phasers to "stun" doesn't faze me.
setting Fazers to stun does Phase me however!
I'm stunned!
What about Captain Kirk's phasers? Should they be fazers?
This annoys me too. People keep doing it even after an exasperated Me tells them the right way. Maybe I'm just tactless.
Some people derive strength and inspiration from circumstances, which would faze an ordinary human being.
Given the remarkable number of plusses on this post (+30 at the moment), I'm guessing I struck a nerve. People are not unfazed by misuse of the word "faze".
Well live and learn, my newly corrected word "faze". Don't know if I have used incorrectly but thanks just the same.
+Maguida Rivera Glad to be of service!
While that did not faze me, it may have had an effect on others.
I cannot remain unfazed when dealing with language nincompoops!
Don't be fazed by their bad English. I'm sure their just going through a phase.
Too true, +Owen Kelly!
Excellent use. Clear
+Owen Kelly Do I need to post about "their" vs "they're"? 😉
The sound is similar but the use is very different. They are vs ownership???
I like this, it's fun.
Thank you. I try to use English properly and was unaware of this misuse.
+Maguida Rivera – Correct. "They're" is short for "they are" — "their" is the third person plural possessive (what "they" possess) — and "there" is a direction.
Its a humdinger of a world – or should that be it's?
You seem upset Dave, is this a faze you are going through?
+gilbert cutler It should be it's = it is.
The internet is a fertile environment for language misuse. Certain words and phrases that become “fashionable” seem particularly prone to error, probably because the rapid propagation is as likely to spread erroneous uses as not, with few correction mechanisms. Nobody likes to be a grammar Nazi, although these things do drive me up a wall — the best way to learn proper English is to read lots of well proofed writing, which seems to be losing out to Gresham these days.
Homonym substitution (faze/phase) has been rampant ever since spellcheckers were invented, but a lot of these things are “eggcorns” (toe the line/tow the line) where the misuse can seem reasonable because of internal context. For many amusing examples, see
The Eggcorn Database http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/about
My particular bete noir is the use of “endear” while reversing the direct/indirect objects (“endear” is one of those words that got popular all of a sudden). For example, “the delicious food endeared me to it”.
+Dave "You saw what I did there?"
There, they're, their! No need to fly off the handle now.
Wait… It's not "Faye's"?
Please address your vs. You're next Dave Hill!
LOL