Thursday, June 10, 2010

What If She Really Meant 'Nerve Recking'?

A story I'm editing says that weddings "can be nerve wrecking."

I figure the writer probably meant "nerve-racking," which I couldn't remember how to spell.

I thought it was "nerve-wracking," with "wrack" meaning "to torture."

But both dictionaries I checked prefer "nerve-racking," the the verb "rack" meaning "to trouble, torment or afflict."

It's one of those things I've learned, forgotten, and relearned who-knows-how-many times over the years.

So, while it's possible that the writer quite deliberately used "wreck," I couldn't let all that good research go to waste, now could I?

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