'Aggravate' and 'Irritate'

That guy really aggravates me.

You'd be surprised how many people think that usage of "aggravate" is wrong. It should be, they say, "irritate," with "aggravate" reserved to mean "to make worse," as in Coffee aggravates his upset stomach.

Like many language shibboleths, this is a myth rooted in a grain of wisdom. Here's how to choose well.

 

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 8th, 2018 at 11:00 am and is filed under this week's podcast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.