I’ve also heard it is “lamblast.” Done by a sheep in wolf’s clothing, perhaps. Similar to the misuse of “penultimate” to mean “ultimate” is the misuse of “epicenter” to mean something like “dead center,” when it really means “above the center,” because the center of an earthquake lies below ground, so the point on the surface above that is the epicenter.
Leave a comment
Search us!
Search The Word Detective and our family of websites:
This is the easiest way to find a column on a particular word or phrase.
To search for a specific phrase, put it between quotation marks.
Ask a Question!
Puzzled by Posh?
Confounded by Cattycorner?
Baffled by Balderdash?
Flummoxed by Flabbergast?
Perplexed by Pandemonium?
Nonplussed by... Nonplussed?
Annoyed by Alliteration?
Steve Dunham:
November 7th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I’ve also heard it is “lamblast.” Done by a sheep in wolf’s clothing, perhaps. Similar to the misuse of “penultimate” to mean “ultimate” is the misuse of “epicenter” to mean something like “dead center,” when it really means “above the center,” because the center of an earthquake lies below ground, so the point on the surface above that is the epicenter.