Which is correct? I thought I knew, but it turned out I'd been using the wrong one my entire life!
That doesn't beat a high schooler's misunderstanding of "took it for granted" when he wrote "took it for granite" or my very good friend's use of the abomination "kinda've," but this one's a confusing one that I had no idea about!
Apparently the correct usage is "nerve racking" according to grammarist.com, my new favorite website. One definition of rack is to torture with a rack (a Medieval torture device). So when we use the word rack in reference to the brain, it means that we're thinking so hard about something that it's like torture ("I had to rack my brain to remember...").
Similarly, when we talk about the phrasal adjective nerve-racking (I almost typed "nerve-wracking!"), we're describing something that tortures the nerves ("What a nerve-racking experience!").
FYI!
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I learned something new today! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that bothers me is "I could care less" vs "I couldn't care less."
You read my mind! I have a post scheduled for next week with "I could/n't care less" and other mistakes. :)
ReplyDeleteAnother one: "For all intents and purposes" and not "intensive purposes." I also pronounced awry as aw-ree. I blame my grammar mistakes on growing up Korean..
ReplyDeletei always forget which one's right on this phrase...
ReplyDeleteJen, you read my mind, too!! So weird! I have that one ready for next week's post too. :) :) And Olivia - I'd been using "nerve-wracking" my entire life. So embarrassed!
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