Flout / Flaunt

March 3rd, 2011 by admin

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Posted in columns, February 2011 | 4 comments

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4 comments on this post.

  1. Vicky Ayers:

    March 4th, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    A similar thing that drives me around the bend is “guide rails” rather than the “guard rails” I grew up with.

  2. James:

    April 13th, 2012 at 9:12 pm

    How about guide lines for guy lines?

  3. Kathy:

    December 4th, 2012 at 10:23 am

    THANK YOU! I have recently started to wonder whether I’m going insane on this one. I find this particular misuse especially annoying because the words’ original meaning are roughly OPPOSITE one another. Flaunting something = showing it off, implying a pride in the object, where flouting something demonstrates the opposite of pride. Seems crazy.

  4. damien enright:

    January 16th, 2014 at 12:11 pm

    What about “track record”, constantly used where “record” would be sufficient for the meaning. “This politician’s track record is second to none.” Was he a runner? Did he earn his record while competing in track events? Surely “This politician’s record is second to none.” is enough? The inherent meaning of “record” in the sense of “history’ is constantly flouted — and ignorance flaunted!

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