A quick grammar post, completely irrelevant to hockey

James Mirtle has referred to his Pronger post (and its comments) as being “horrific”. What a strongly negative word, something akin to saying “horrible to the nth degree”. What is really strange about the English language is that there is a very similar word with a completely reversed meaning: “terrific”, which I guess means “terrible to the nth degree (but so terrible it’s AWESOME)”. I can’t find much different between “horror” and “terror”, “horrible” and “terrible”, but when it comes to “horrific” and “terrific”, wowza! One of my goals over the last year or so has been to use these last two terms more interchangeably, with often-confusing results.

Another puzzler in English is the term “subpar”, which traditionally means less than desired. However, if it has any relation to the game of golf, shouldn’t subpar mean exceptional?

So now, armed with this new understanding, you too can go around confusing everyone, talking about Anaheim’s subpar offseason and its terrific new uniforms. Only you will really know what you are talking about.