More commonly confused words

Amuse / bemuse

The verb to amuse means to make someone laugh or smile at something. It can also be refer more generally to providing entertainment or fun for others. The verb to bemuse means to confuse or perplex people. Someone who is bemused is baffled. Someone who is amused is having a good time. If you have a bemused expression at a movie theater, you are probably not enjoying the film. Bemuse can also mean to cause to be lost in thought, as if something is so puzzling that we must stop and try to figure it out. As we see, these similar words mean very different things, yet they are sometimes confused by writers of Thai English. Even some native speakers of English confuse these words, so that the fifth edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language noted:

The word bemused is sometimes used to mean ‘amused, especially when finding something wryly funny,’ as in The stream of jokes from the comedian left the audience bemused, with some breaking out into guffaws. Most of the Usage Panel does not like this usage, with 78 percent rejecting this sentence in our 2005 survey. By contrast, 84 percent accepted a sentence in which bemused means ‘confused.’

In other words, most of the English language experts responsible for putting togather an edition of the dictionary thought that to write bemused when what is meant is amused is a mistake. How can we avoid confusing these two words? Since both of these words have similar origins, it is not helpful to examine their history. Instead, we can look at English words starting with the two letters be, sometimes meaning thoroughly or completely, or to cause to be something. These are often old-style words in English, but some are still currently in use, like bemused. Even formal or literary words of this kind can be worth getting to know, since in writing a scholarly research paper or thesis, it is appropriate to use such words. Other examples of this type of word starting with the letters be:

 behavior

 belated

 benighten

 bepuzzled

 bewhiskered

 becalmed

 bechained

bedazzle

bedeafen

bedevil

bedew

bedrizzle

befall

befit

befog

befreckled

befriend

befuddle

bejeaned

bemedaled

berouged

besandalled

bescatter

besequined

besmirch

bespatter

bespectacled

besweatered

betide

betroth

betrousered

bewhiskered

We may find it easier to remember the meaning and context of the word bemuse if we place it in an invented sentence, showing the kind of word it is, for example:

The bewhiskered, betrousered ajarn was bemused and befuddled.

As always, the meaning of such invented sentences is not important, in this case meaning that an ajarn wearing a beard and pants was confused about something. The key point is to recall that the word bemuse is similar to a lot of other words starting with the letters be, and should therefore not be confused with amuse, which starts with the letters am. It may also be useful to link the words to words similar in meaning, to make us more certain of how they should look. For example, the word amusement as in the term amusement park. No one would make the mistake of calling Ramayana Water Park in Pattaya or Surf House in Kata Beach or Black Mountain Water Park in Hua Hin bemusement parks. They are clearly amusement parks where people go with their families to be amused. To associate other words with bemused, we might think of a famous Broadway song, written for a show that premiered in 1940 by the composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist Lorenz Hart. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered from the show Pal Joey is sung by a female character who explains that being in love means that she cannot sleep because she is too puzzled or baffled by the experience. Among the famous singers to record this song is Ella Fitzgerald, and more recently Lady Gaga. We may adapt the title of this song to read Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered, and Bemused, since all of these terms can mean puzzled or baffled. Some usage examples:

• At the new Phuket Terminal 2 last weekend, my fellow passengers and I were not amused at being charged Bt100 for what we were told was “fast-lane” service.
• At Amari Koh Samui, while parents laze around the pool, the children can have fun at the Kid’s Club, which has plenty of activities to make the kids amused all day long.
• Legend has it that in 1861, most Bangkokians were bemused by the newly completed Chareon Krung, commenting that it was too wide for the first motor vehicles and calling it a total waste of money.
• “As if it were so strange that a woman can make movies,” she muses, amused rather than bemused.

 

Antidote/ anecdote

The noun antidote refers to some medication given to counter the effects of something causing harm. Many, although not all poisons found in nature, such as snake venoms, have antidotes. An antidote is a remedy, and the word’s origins show its meaning clearly, from the ancient Greek meaning given against. It is something given against something else. A similar-looking noun, anecdote, refers to amusing stories told from one person to another. Anecdotes are sometimes seen published in book form, such as Lord Eldon’s Anecdote Book, or Benjamin Constant’s novel Adolphe, subtitled by its author as An Anecdote Found in the Papers of an Unknown Man. Both of these books are in the collection of the Thammasat University Libraries. Anecdotes can be serious matters. Lord Eldon (1751–1838) was a British barrister and politician who served as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, a high-ranking government official, in the early 1800s. His Anecdote Book deals with some of the cases he prosecuted, offering his own defense of his conduct. So anecdotes are not only minor jokes about light-hearted subjects. Although these books exist, the origins of the noun anecdote are from the ancient Greek, meaning things that are not published. For Lord Eldon, his anecdotes were stories that were not printed until he included them in his own collection. Trying to place anecdote and antidote with other words similar in meaning, we find that the only commonly used words in English that begin with the letters anec have to do with anecdotes. Whereas words that begin with the letters anti are very common. They include:

antianxiety

antiapartheid

antibacterial

anticlimactic

anticonvulsant

antidefamation

antidepressant

antidiscrimination

antifreeze

antigen

antiglobulin

antihistamine

antineutrino

antipasto

antipathetic

antipiracy

antipodes

antipoverty

antirational

antiregulatory

antiseptic

antislavery

antismoking

antisocial

antithetical

antithyroid

antitoxin

antitraditional

antitrust

antitubercular

antitussive

antiviolence

antiviral

antiwar

antiwrinkle

These are only a few of the many words beginning with the letters anti, associated with the word antidote. If we can remember that an antidote is something given against something, then we will probably not make the mistake of confusing it with the word anecdote. Here are some usage examples:

• Spoil someone special with superb pampering experience. Our Antidote Spa offers two luxurious spa hampers packed with therapeutic delights.
• Setting aside differences and conflicts, free labour markets across ASEAN may be the best path to prosperity and antidote for poverty in the region.
• It is an extraordinary collection of individuals, and Roe invokes them with vigour and skill, an unerring eye for detail and ear for anecdote bringing alive this most fascinating of times.
• He engages the audience with anecdotes and involves them in the act. His material is based on his life, so people really identify with him.
• The discovery of an antibody treatment for Ebola is not Wanpen’s first success. She has also been recognised for her achievements in identifying an antibody to the H5n1 Influenza virus as well as an antidote to the venom of the Thai cobra.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).