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Bookmark or Share- word choice - English Language & Usage Stack ExchangeThe fact that discombobulated is made up and not really derived from combobulated does mean that you can't use combobulated. I think more or less anyone would understand what you meant, and if it caught on, combobulated would simply be derived from discombobulated. Combobulated is, in other words, a perfectly cromulent word to me. –
- What is deliberately using complex sentences to confuse people called?"Bamboozle" and "befuddle" are the best so far, they're the only ones that fit and are also in common usage. I'd use "Bamboozle" when implying that it is a deliberate attempt to manipulate someone into something (e.g. a salesman trying to 'blind someone with science' or a politician creating vague fears), and "Befuddle" when it could be an accident (e.g. a poor communicator) or where creating ...
- etymology - If you can be "discombobulated", is it possible to be ..."I had had a psycholytic dose of LSD, one that allowed the patient to explore his psyche in an unconstrained but still deliberate manner while remaining sufficiently combobulated to talk about it." from "How To Change Your Mind" by Michael Pollan, Penguin Books 2019, page 253. Here "combobulated" means the opposite of "discombobulated".
- Why has the word "discombobulate" stuck around?It is this nonsense quality that gives the word its meaning—i.e., to throw into a state of confusion. To be discombobulated is to be thoroughly befuddled. Discombobulate is still a light word and might be out of place in more formal contexts, but it does turn up fairly often in edited publications (The Grammarist) Discombobulate v.:
- "What does it mean?" vs. "What does that mean?" — what's the difference?Pretty similar, yes? Look a little more closely, however. The first pair indicates that you want to know what aspect of the word discombobulated applies to me, and not necessarily a definition of the word. The second pair indicates you want me to give you a definition of the word discombobulated. There's a difference between the two, but it is ...
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