Debate: Careen

Forum member Kasper shared one of his language peeves

Just lately I find I keep coming across this word in novels. I know it of old: it means to haul a ship over on its side to clean the bottom (preferably without sinking her).

But I find an awful lot of authors (and not at all a lot of awful authors) using it to mean a sort of conflation of "career" and "carom": the balloon careened wildly about the room, or ... careened wildly off the walls.

Something should be done!

Content last updated: 10/07/2009