I’m quite befuddled by two cases of excessive affixation I’ve observed.
(1) Obligated vs. obliged.
Recently I’ve been hearing some instances of obligated from my classmates. Is there a different meaning to these two words? Or different connotation? I don’t feel any difference between the two of them. I always prefer to use obliged.
(2) Tact vs. tactfulness.
I saw tactfulness on a friend’s blog. Again, is tactfulness the same as tact, especially in the context of “I need _ to handle these people.” ? I always prefer to use tact in that context. Tactfulness would be more like “her tactfulness has allowed her to excel in PR” or something. Hm.
