Word of the Day Archive
Monday July 30, 2012
usageaster \YOO-sij-as-ter\
, noun:
A self-styled authority on language usage.
Newman went on to voice sentiments held by other usageasters: I think that slang adds richness and originality to English.
-- Charlton Grant Laird and Phillip C. Boardman, The Legacy of Language
A poetaster pretends to write poetry; a usageaster pretends to know about questions of usage in language.
-- Allan A. Metcalf, Predicting New Words
Usageaster is derived from the word usage and the suffix -aster which refers to something that imperfectly resembles or mimics the true thing.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for usageaster
