Conversation overheard on my way to the bathroom:
“…it made me nauseous…”
More conversation overheard on my way back from the bathroom: “…the nauseousness was terrible…”
1. That queasy feeling in your stomach? That’s usually called nausea, not nauseousness (though nauseousness isn’t strictly incorrect; it’s just kind of awkward). As in “…the nausea was terrible…”
2. Nauseous means to induce nausea. When you say you’re nauseous, you’re actually saying that you make other people sick, which I’m pretty sure is not what people mean to communicate when they say they’re nauseous, but who am I to judge? Maybe they really are sick-inducing? Anyway, the correct word is nauseated. As in, “…it made me nauseated…” or “…it nauseated me…”
That is all. As you were, comrades.
red paper boat 