{"id":134664,"date":"2025-10-07T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/10\/07\/bemused-writers-do-not-amuse-me\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T02:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T10:00:00","slug":"bemused-writers-do-not-amuse-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/10\/07\/bemused-writers-do-not-amuse-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemused Writers Do Not Amuse Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teddy Snyder | Like the words \u201cverbiage\u201d and \u201cexpansive\u201d, \u201cbemused\u201d has apparently lost its meaning through misuse.
\nThe post Bemused Writers Do Not Amuse Me appeared first on Articles, Tips and Tech for Law Firms and Lawyers.<\/p>\n

Is it \u201cbemused\u201d or \u201camused\u201d? Like \u201cverbiage<\/a>\u201d and \u201cexpansive<\/a>,\u201d the word \u201cbemused\u201d has apparently lost its meaning through misuse. \u201cBemused\u201d is appearing more and more often. However, the context usually shows that the writer meant \u201camused.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"bemused
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another Word Loses Its Meaning<\/h2>\n

A synonym for \u201cbemused\u201d is \u201cconfused\u201d or \u201cbewildered.\u201d To be amused is to find something funny or entertaining. Both words reference the nine muses of Greek mythology, goddesses of the arts and inspiration.<\/p>\n

The etymology suggests that rather than use \u201cbemused\u201d for \u201camused,\u201d if anything, the switch should be the other way around. \u201cBemused,\u201d meaning to be completely confused, can be traced back to the eighteenth century. In 1735, Alexander Pope wrote his poem, Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot<\/a>, about the difficulties of writing good satire. He asks about a drunk cleric, \u201cIs there a parson, much bemus\u2019d in beer, \u2026 Who pens a stanza, when he should engross?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmused,\u201d on the other hand, dates back to the fifteenth-century Old French and Latin usage, meaning to cause to muse distractedly, to ponder, or stare fixedly; nothing here about laughing.<\/p>\n

Like \u201cgauntlet\u201d (a glove) and \u201cgantlet\u201d (two lines of people who swat a person running between the lines)<\/a>, the misuse of \u201cbemuse\u201d has become so pervasive that dictionary.com has included the misuse as a tertiary definition: \u201cmildly amused, especially in a detached way.\u201d The definition describes how people actually use the word, rather than dictating how it should be used. That\u2019s what we do here at \u201cGet To The Point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will this word misuse make a difference to your professional writing? <\/h2>\n

Maybe. If you mean to describe someone\u2019s reaction to a situation as amused when in fact you have described the person as not sure what they are doing, that could raise some questions. Did the person who saw the accident laugh, as some do in this situation? Or was the person confused about what to do to help?<\/p>\n

So many people mistake the definition of \u201cbemused,\u201d the best choice may be to not use it at all lest you cause your reader to be bemused.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Order<\/a><\/figure>\n
\n

More Writing Tips<\/a><\/h2>\n

Find more good ideas for improving your legal writing and communications skills in \u201cGet to the Point\u201d by Teddy Snyder. <\/p>\n

\n
READ MORE \u2026<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Subscribe to Attorney at Work<\/h2>\n

Get really good ideas every day for your law practice: Subscribe to the Daily Dispatch<\/a> (it\u2019s free).<\/p>\n

Image \u00a9 iStockPhoto.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teddy Snyder | Like the words \u201cverbiage\u201d and \u201cexpansive\u201d, \u201cbemused\u201d has apparently lost its meaning through misuse. The post Bemused Writers Do Not Amuse Me appeared first on Articles, Tips and Tech for Law Firms and Lawyers. Is it \u201cbemused\u201d or \u201camused\u201d? Like \u201cverbiage\u201d and \u201cexpansive,\u201d the word \u201cbemused\u201d has apparently lost its meaning through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal_matters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}