| nonstand., amer. |
calm, undisturbed, unfazed, unimpressed or indifferent (Many people in North America have interpreted this mildly odd word in recent decades to mean calm, undisturbed, unfazed, unimpressed or indifferent. When Billboard recently wrote, "She was very nonplussed and was happy to wait in the queue", we may be sure the sense intended was "unbothered". Similarly a sports magazine's "MS Dhoni is popularly known in cricketing circles as ‘Captain Cool' for his nonplussed demeanour in tense situations" is clear enough. But what about "I'm completely nonplused by most contemporary architecture" which was recently in the Wall Street Journal? What emotion was the writer feeling? His later comments make clear to a puzzled reader that he was unimpressed rather than confused. (from Michael Quinion World Wide Words Newsletter, 5 Dec 2015) Namecollector) |
