Object Lesson #1: It’s Not An Abject Lesson


I was shocked the other day when Gizmodo editor Luke Hopewell used the phrase ‘abject lesson’. He’s an excellent writer and a well-educated young man, but he fell victim to an all-too-common mishearing. The correct phrase is ‘object lesson’.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock, from GTS Production

Here’s the definition of ‘object lesson’ from our usual resource, the Macquarie Dictionary:

A practical illustration of a principle, especially one serving as a warning.

There is no definition for ‘abject lesson’, because it’s a nonsense phrase. It only pops up because people have misheard the expression and assumed the word ‘abject’ was used. The Macquarie defines ‘abject’ as “utterly humiliating or disheartening”, which imparts an entirely different meaning.

Here’s a recent example of ‘abject lesson’ being used in a news report about sport:

They produced a display that was an abject lesson in how to capitalise on every opportunity.

That is nonsensical if you consider what ‘abject’ means. Use the correct phrase ‘object lesson’ and it makes sense.

Abject failure? No problem. Abject lesson? That is, itself, an abject failure.

Lifehacker’s Mind Your Language column offers bossy advice on improving your writing.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

Here are the cheapest plans available for Australia’s most popular NBN speed tier.

At Lifehacker, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


21 responses to “Object Lesson #1: It’s Not An Abject Lesson”

Leave a Reply