AN "AGGRAVATED" LISTENER
Sir,-Three times recently I have noticed the use over the air of the word "aggravated" in the sense of "vexed." Fowler’s comment on this usage may be of interest to some listeners: "The use of ‘aggravate’ in the sense ‘annoy,’ ‘vex,’ should be left to the uneducated. It is for the most part a feminine or childish colloquialism, but intrudes occasionally into the newspapers. ‘To aggravate’ has properly only one meaning-to make (an evil) worse or more serious." While Fowler may be slightly unfair to the ladies, the distinction seems to me to be well worth preserving. No other word has the precise shade of meaning given by "aggravate" in its proper sense.
R.O.
D.
(Oamaru).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19460125.2.13.7
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 344, 25 January 1946, Page 25
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119AN "AGGRAVATED" LISTENER New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 344, 25 January 1946, Page 25
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