Word of the Day

: March 28, 2008

disremember

verb dis-rih-MEM-ber

What It Means

: forget

disremember in Context

"'It was the British who did it,' I said quickly. 'I disremember the place and time....'" (E.L. Doctorow, Loon Lake)

Did You Know?

English has been depending upon the word "forget" since before the 12th century, but in 1805 a new rival appeared in print -- "disremember." A critic in 1869 called "disremember" both "obsolete" and "a low vulgarism," and later grammarians have agreed; it has been labeled "provincial and archaic," and in 1970 Harry Shaw opined that "disremember" was "an illiteracy," adding, "never use this word in standard English." (By 1975, Shaw amended his opinion to "this word is dialectal rather than illiterate.") "Forget" is indeed a vastly more popular word, but "disremember" still turns up occasionally, often in dialectal or humorous contexts.