verbiage.

aaaand, we’re back with another word nerd lesson, this time concerning word choice.  i’ve seen this offender a multitude of times, and it just crossed my path via twitter.  no free passes for twitter, just because you are limiting letters does not mean you choose the wrong word.  especially when said person is an english major, blogger, and/or proposed writer.  today’s lesson:

bawling vs. balling.

now.

bawling means to cry, usually with force and volume, because you are sad or watching titanic for the 16th time while pregnant eating doritos, or when something legitimately heart-wrenching occurs.  the dictionary uses the word “unrestrainedly” to describe the said event, which sounds pretty heavy.  balling (or “ballin'” as the Young People of Today like to say it) tends to refer to a myriad of mostly non-related things:

balling literally means to be rolling something into a ball, as in “he was balling his test in his hands”.

ballin’ refers to either the game of basketball, or that someone is living an affluent lifestyle/being ‘the man’, as in “we be ballin’!”(thank you urban dictionary and too much time watching mtv).

so you can see why someone saying “i was balling at this lifetime channel movie” is both wrong and really, really amusing.  just trying to make you all look smarter, people 🙂

go forth with expanded knowledge, my friends, and hopefully nothing to bawl at.