Horrible/horrid

[Neil Ward]

Sam wrote:

<<Ever since reading Terry Pratchett's 'Hogfather', I absolutely 
cannot stand it when people use the word 'horrid'. Why not just use 
horrible? According to my dictionary, they both mean pretty much the 
same thing, except horrid is a little more colloquial.>> 

According to Fowler's Modern English Usage, 'horrid' is the least 
emphatic of a series of adjectives meaning disagreeable, running from 
horrid, through horrible, to horrifying.  Fowler's also notes that 
horrendous and horrific were once even more powerful terms, but that 
their impact has been lessened by exposure in the popular media.

To me horrid is the sort of word that only well-to-do people, and 
particularly their children, would use.  One might think that one's 
Nanny was being horrid to one, or that one's new velvet pantaloons 
were simply horrid. IMO, it isn't quite as bad as the word 'beastly' 
or the use of the word 'rather' to emphasise an affirmative response.

Neil