Historic versus Historical

[dancerjodi]

The proper usage of these words came up at dinner on Wednesday night (we bought our retiring office manager a mirror that had illustrations of old buildings in Melrose and said "Historical Melrose" on the bottom). I was curious what was more proper in different contexts.

Here it is:
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19980218

Yes, I'm a dork :)

Comments

[christmasjedi.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear the mirror was correct! I'll admit, I was a little worried. :-) Thanks for sharing - I'm a vocab geek as well. *g*

[roaming.livejournal.com]

I knew that, which makes me probably Dorkier Than Thou. Except I wouldn't have been able to explain it as well as the maven did. I often know what's the correct usage, but am not sure HOW I know it. That kind of stuff seeps in and sticks, whereas more important stuff -- who fought the historic Battle of the Bulge? where did I hide my historical tax records? -- seeps out faster than it can seep it.

[stormcloud9.livejournal.com]

i'm glad someone pointed this out. now if we can get someone to cancel the word "ironical." (you know m-w lists "ironicalness" as a synonym for irony? GAH!)

historicalistificalismic. yeah.