One should always be very wary of pointing out others slips of language or grammar, but one the other day eally tickled my fancy.
A letter to The Times claimed that England's enduring problem with alcohol had been exasperated by Labour's relaxation of licensing laws.
I am certain that at school we learned to distinguish between exasperate - to irritate or annoy - & exacerbate - to make worse. Even so I felt exasperate was really the mot juste here, because we are all so cross about the kind of behaviour that has been unleashed on our streets - & not just in city centres.
But, just to check, I consulted the OED & found that exasperate did indeed carry the meaning 'To make harsh or rugged; to add harshness to (language, sounds, etc.); to render (laws) more severe.' though it is now marked as obsolete. I was wrong to think I had spotted something that Times editors had missed.
