I want to pick a fight with the word “sanguine”.
It has two totally different meanings, I always pick the wrong one, and I’m always left so very confused.
Example: A while back, NPR Morning Edition talked about how a book store in Miami was closing down. The correspondent explains that the bookstore’s owner was very sanguine and positive about the future of book sales.
I had to pause and wonder whether I had missed the first part of the story where the bookstore owner mentioned how he’d get through the tough economic times by pillaging his competitors, burning down their stores, and smiling at the sound of their women’s lamentations.
“Bemused” is another one that I never get right. Are you confused and perplexed or amused? From the WaPo :
Garry South, a strategist for one of Brown’s Democratic rivals, 41-year old San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, observed Brown’s birthday last week with a message on his Facebook page: “Imagine being born when FDR was president!
Such talk has left Brown slightly bemused.
“Listening to them, you’d think ignorance is a virtue,” Brown said. “I’m the guy with new ideas and innovations. The last time there was real creativity in state government was when I was governor.”
It took me two reads and I think that the writer means amused (bemused actually means perplexed/confused. Just because it sounds like amused don’t make it so, folks).