The Truth about Petrification

"This is absolutely barmy", cried an MP recently, appalled (not unreasonably) at the decision of a College in Yorkshire to delete Christmas and Easter from its calendar. "They are petrified that they offend the minority, but what are they doing offending the majority ?".

This gentleman is obviously pretty angry, but he could have expressed himself better.

'Petrified' means 'turned to stone' (from Latin petra, itself derived from Greek petra or petros, all meaning stone, rock or crag). You can say (metaphorically) "I saw this beast coming towards me: I was petrified". But you can't be 'petrified that . . .' or even 'petrified of . . .' any more than you can be 'turned to stone that. . .' or 'turned to stone of . . .' It is even worse to say (as some people do) "I was literally petrified", as if you had actually caught the eye of a Gorgon, or been hung up at the Knaresborough wishing-well to be coated in limestone.

It is a pity that so many good metaphors are no longer recognised as such, have (to most users) lost their point entirely, and so have become ridiculously misused. This is a genuine loss to our language: I think I shall have to found a Society for the Care of Aged of Metaphors.

The truth about petrification