Evacuation

From today’s Seattle Times: “20 people evacuated after propane leak

Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.

For the record, “to evacuate” means “to empty or remove the contents of; or to create a vacuum in.”

You can evacuate people from an area (and the article’s lead paragraph gets that right). If you simply evacuate people … well, that you’ve got a real mess on your hands.

Comments

Yes, 'evacuate' and the misuse of; one of my great peeves. Also, add to the list the non-word, 'irregardless' (redundant). Makes me cringe.
Dar