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Comment by cjg | Hacker News Reader

Nonplussed is a dreadful word. It means either: 1) so surprised and confused that one is unsure how to react; 2) not disconcerted; unperturbed.

Definitions 1 and 2 are opposites. So, is he perturbed or not? "This is totally weird", or "this is weird, but I can so cope with it". Who knows.

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It's a play on Google+ - he canceled the service, so he's not plussed...

Nonplussed is also used to mean "uninspired" or "unimpressed" - like when something is perhaps a little out of the ordinary [there is an expectation that it will have an impact one way or another] but still doesn't really have an effect on; almost exclusively in the phrase "I was pretty nonplussed by it all" or a close analogue of that.

Certainly this is the usage I've heard and used for the last 20 years or so.

Those people are using it incorrectly.

Language is ultimately about usage. The dictionary I checked with confirmed this meaning as a US neologism, I'm in the UK.

You could class this usage as "perplexed" but with a specific flavour of 'perplexity at the unimpressive nature of the subject'.

US colloquial usage - where the original, subtle UK usage goes to die; see also "presently," and "beg the question."

That usage is incorrect. It's another case of a word misinterpretation taking over the historical meaning. It's from the Latin "non plus" meaning no further.

I'm not sure why you note the Latin etymology, that would tend more towards the neologistic definition IMO.

Like "no more?" as in "isn't there anything else to it?". I don't see how "no more" suggests being flummoxed/confounded. [Yes I know that's not how "logo-genesis" works]

no more as in I'm speechless and can say no more

I intended the original definition, not the corrupted one, but also as a pun.

People mistakenly use it to mean "not impressed".

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