The Grammar Pedant: Nauseous vs. nauseated

Greetings, pedants! I didn't think I would do another Grammar Pedant post for a while, but I heard something today that made me twitch, so here we are.

Today we're going to talk about a useful, but widely misused word:

NAUSEOUS.

This misuse isn't limited to the Illiterati. I've heard far too many otherwise word-savvy people say things like, "I ate cold leftover pizza for breakfast and it's not sitting right; I'm super nauseous," or "I think I might be coming down with something; I've felt nauseous for the last hour." I always feel slightly embarrassed when I hear comments like this, because the primary definition for "nauseous" is "sickening, disgusting, or causing others to feel sickness." Barf on the sidewalk is nauseous. Dogs consuming their own poop are nauseous. People with furry green teeth and paint-peeling bad breath are nauseous. I sincerely hope that you are never nauseous to anyone.

So what's the word to use if you feel sick or disgusted by something? That word, my dear friends and fellow pedants, is

NAUSEATED.

The definition for this word is "feeling a sickness in the stomach associated with the urge to vomit," and it's the one you need if you are feeling ill. (Not if you're making other people retch and spew due to your funky oral hygiene and whatnot.)

So. "Nauseated" = "I feel sick." "Nauseous" = "I make other people feel sick."

One potential way to remember the difference between the two words is that "nauseated" contains the full root word "nausea" within it, while "nauseous" does not.

That's all for now, and remember -- the English language is a terrible thing to waste.