Saturday, February 16, 2008

Fazed by Phases

I ran a search for particularly heinous examples of the phrase, “it doesn't phase me.” I discovered that, out of 903 results, ninety-five percent of the references were from song lyrics. I can't assume that people who transcribe lyrics need dictionaries, or that musicians should be better-versed in the vagaries of vocabulary, but this takes me a step in that direction.

For those of you who don't understand the problem with being “phased” by something, I'll explain. You see, calling something a phase indicates that the subject is passing through a temporary state of being. You can go through a phase, say, of loving the music of a boy band. By its very nature, such a phase will pass, much like the boy band itself.

These misguided musical enthusiasts should have used the word “faze”. Fazed means flustered or otherwise discombobulated. If you claim that something does not faze you, you are saying that it did not rattle or discomfit you.

It wouldn't faze me a bit if you commented that you were unaware that such a word exists. It's been ignored and misused in many media for a century or longer. Do your part and use faze and phase correctly henceforward. Rescue this verb from its prison of abuse. Language lovers will thank you.