Wednesday, October 21, 2009

WSJ Opinion

We're all balloon boys now (WSJ)
October 21, 2009
More often than not, you have to ask yourself whether what's in front of you is real, sort of real, a hoax or what. Writing about the balloon-boy fiasco in the Toronto Star, a bemused Vinay Menon wondered whether hoaxer Richard Heene was "even a real person and not a CNN hologram."

The Week: It Wasn't All Bad

Edgar Allan Poe receives his due (The Week)
October 15, 2009
When a destitute Edgar Allan Poe died in Baltimore in 1849, barely anyone attended his hastily assembled funeral. But this week, hundreds gathered to give the writer a proper send-off, 200 years after his birth. The mourners—some in 19th-century costume, some in “Evermore!” T-shirts—accompanied a horse-drawn hearse bearing a coffin containing a mock Poe corpse to Westminster Hall, the converted church next to his actual grave. Inside, speakers portraying Poe’s acquaintances and colleagues eulogized him; the emcee was actor John Astin, who has toured with a one-man Poe show for years. “I think Poe would have been bemused by it,” said one attendee.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Oh, Economist

Only Nixon could go to Gethsemane (Democracy in America)
June 10, 2009
Politico is reporting that Barack Obama has, thus far, invoked the name "Jesus" in his public addresses more frequently than did George W Bush at the same point in his presidency. This has provoked some bemusement among conservatives, who note that secularists don't seem to be throwing fits about this unholy fusion of faith and politics.
Ed. note: DIA is one of our favorite blogs, so it pains us to do this. But such is our duty.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

The Week: The Last Word

My father, the icon (The Week)
May 22, 2009
Pup's aloofness in the matter of seat belts and stop signs and speed limits and other nuisances had long puzzled me, in a bemused sort of way. As his driving came more to resemble Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland, my bemusement diminished.

Friday, June 5, 2009

About.com Hockey post

The Many Lives of the Stanley Cup (About.com: Hockey)
May 27, 2009
Bemused city officials even unveiled a plaque at the site.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

NYT editorial

Grimace and Bear It (NYT)
May 28, 2009
The merest hint of something short of bemusement may make it in Arkansas, one bureaucrat allowed, but no teeth showing and don’t even think of grinning large.

Bemused means befuddled

The definition of "bemused" isn't "amused." If someone is bemused, they are confused; lost in thought; bewildered; baffled. If you want to say that someone is amused, there is a word for that: "amused."

In this blog, we will highlight instances of professional or semi-professional writers misusing this slippery word in its various parts of speech.

Inspired by, but completely unaffiliated with, d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com .