Many times people read or hear the term “nonplussed” used in a manner that means
impassive or
indifferent to an incident that would be typically regarded as extremely upsetting or disturbing, as in, "Charles was nonplussed and merely smiled as the snake made its way across the room." As a matter of fact this is nearly the opposite of what dictionaries define "nonplussed" to signify as in, “To
puzzle; to
confound; to put to a
stand; to
stop by embarrassment.” So many wonder what's all the perplexity about "nonplussed"?
This word is kind of neat because there is no such word as plused, or plussed. Just nonplussed or nonplused. The spelling nonplussed is more widespread than nonplused in American English since the double “s” occurs because the second syllable is stressed. The root word is nonplus and it’s derived directly from the Latin phrase non plus implying "not more".
Nonplus began to emerge in English in 1582 as a noun synonymous with quandary that described "a point at which no more can be done, a dead end." Within ten years people began using "nonplus" as a verb and within another decade people who were "nonplussed" were being ‘overwhelmed and exasperated by an event or circumstance that posed an insoluble dilemma or seems intolerable’ as in "I can't take any more of this". So if Charles were to be without a doubt nonplussed about that snake slithering across the room, then rather than just sitting their aloof, there would be shrieking along with wildly waving arms and mad dashes from the room like most normal people.
But for some reason, many people have decided that "nonplussed" means unperturbed or impassive. Oftentimes accepted conventions of word usage change in speech, and the " cool, calm, and collected" habit of being "nonplussed" may soon give way and become the customary meaning in the near future. For example one dictionary defines nonplussed as an adjective meaning surprised or confused then it goes onto also include nonplussed as being used informally in North America as meaning unperturbed. Evan Morris at The Word Detective website says that, Such transformations are actually fairly common in English. "Nice," for instance, originally meant "stupid," and at one point in its evolution meant "wanton," nearly the opposite of our modern "nice.”
Another etymologist theorizes that people suppose that the "non" in "nonplus" must have a negative sense perhaps meaning "not." Even though the word plussed has no definition in English it’s likely that the negative prefix makes many think that the gist of the word must be ‘not something’ rather than ‘utterly or completely something.’ Or there is the similarity with the word unfazed, meaning ‘to take for granted’ and that to be "nonplussed" is to be cool as a cucumber.
Nevertheless, the correct meaning of nonplussed currently prevails, even if there are quite a few instances of the new meaning. For example, “Gates seemed nonplussed by the Net until late 1995. By 1996 he became a fanatic.” (ZDNet, 1999) and “Both authors are nonplussed by the notion of dog fashion shows. ‘If you don’t compromise the dog, what the hell?’ Ms. Knapp said.” (The New York Times, 1999). Speaking of the New York Times, even the editors of The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage seem baffled by the term. They write: “Nonplused does not mean fazed or unfazed. It means bewildered to the point of speechlessness.” Most dictionaries define nonplussed as essentially meaning ‘fazed’ as opposed to ‘unfazed’. Despite all of the bafflement, the reality is that the book takes on the topic and demonstrates that the meaning of nonplussed has certainly come into question since the prior edition had no entry for this expression.
Sources:
AllWords.com - Dictionary, Guide, Community and More:
www.allwords.com/word-nonplussed.htm
AskOxford:
http://www.askoxford.com/results/?view=dev_dict&field-12668446=nonplussed&branch=13842570&textsearchtype=exact&sortorder=score%2Cname
The Maven’s Word of the day:
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19991221
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 10th Edition.
The Word Detective:
http://www.word-detective.com/091400.html