A few days ago, I wrote about the battle between ‘disinterested’ and ‘uninterested.’
Quick reminder: most educated people use ‘disinterested’ to mean ‘impartial’—having no vested interest (what a judge on the bench should be).
If you say, ‘I have no dog in this fight’ or ‘I have no skin in this game’ you are being ‘disinterested.’
You may follow the battle with interest, but you are not cheering for one side or the other.
On the other hand, ‘uninterested’ has classically meant— ‘having no interest.’
If you don’t like watching formula one motor racing on TV then you are ‘uninterested’ (it just doesn’t interest you, in the way it interests the petrol heads!)
But, as I also pointed out, when ‘disinterested’ came it English in the 1600s it had both meanings—both neutral and impartial and lacking any interest in the subject.
So should we allow people to use ‘uninterested’ in the way which we were taught is wrong?
The votes are in, and the votes have been counted.
The vast majority of you believe we should stick to the old distinction.
As one reader pointed out—having ‘disinterested’ and ‘uninterested’ having different meanings makes the English language a bit richer and more nuanced.
And, yes, I agree. I can’t bring myself to use ‘uninterested’ when I am ‘not interested.’
I don’t think we should follow the masses.
If we misuse ‘disinterested’ to all the educated people around us, we will sound semi-literate—and we don’t want that!
Two other thoughts.
One reader (Brian) suggested that the current confusion is a good reason to ban both words from our vocabulary—if English language users are so muddled, then we should just drop the words and use the alternatives that our rich language provides.
And another reader (Irene) says we only need to drop the vague and unhelpful word ‘uninterested’ and make it a rule to constantly use the verbal phrase ‘not interested’ instead.
Problem solved!
Thank you everyone!
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