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Old 05-19-2006, 08:44 AM   #132
Passacaglia
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Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Big Ten Country
Glad this thread got bumped, as I was just about to. Let's talk about deceptively.

Quote:
de·cep·tive·ly ( P ) Pronunciation Key (d-sptv-l)
adv.
In a deceptive or deceiving manner; so as to deceive.
Usage Note: When deceptively is used to modify an adjective, the meaning is often unclear. Does the sentence The pool is deceptively shallow mean that the pool is shallower or deeper than it appears? When the Usage Panel was asked to decide, 50 percent thought the pool shallower than it appears, 32 percent thought it deeper than it appears, and 18 percent said it was impossible to judge. Thus a warning notice worded in such a way would be misinterpreted by many of the people who read it, and others would be uncertain as to which sense was intended. Where the context does not make the meaning of deceptively clear, the sentence should be rewritten, as in The pool is shallower than it looks or The pool is shallow, despite its appearance.

I don't know what the Usage Panel is, but I'm in the camp that says if something is deceptively shallow, is still is shallow.
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