This week I have a quick and dirty tip about the difference between a gravate and irritate,

an immediate middle about something called functional shift.

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In the past, some experts said you should avoid using the word aggravate to mean annoy

or irritate.

The verb to aggravate came to English from a Latin word that means to make heavier.

The same root gives us the words grief and gravity.

So in Latin, it meant to make things heavier, not just heavy.

In other words, worse.

In the argument that aggravate must mean to make something worse instead of just to annoy

or irritate hinges on that origin.

It can refer to a feeling or a physical problem.

For example, having your friend text me right after our fight just aggravated the situation.

I know you meant well, but Sarah is allergic to flowers, so sending roses when she had

a cold actually aggravated her symptoms.

But despite its origin, people started using aggravate to mean annoy or irritate almost

right away.

The adjective aggravating even more forcefully took on the meaning of annoying or irritating.

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