Suffering Suffixes

  It must be so----the voice says that after you see the show, you'll feel "amazing."   I can only wonder if he means "amazed."  The word "amazing" has got to be the most overused descriptive word of the last few years.  Ask formerly obese people how they feel after their weight loss and, almost invariably, they will say they feel amazing.  Same goes for those who've had any type of makeover, whether body or house, and they can't wait to say how amazing they feel.  You know the scenario:  A woman lurks in the audience at the KL & Hoda show on makeover day, wearing sweatpants and no makeup.  She is selected, undergoes a hairdo, is attired in a frumpy dress from Macy's, has some lipstick applied, and sees her "reveal" in the onstage mirror. She weeps.  They ask her how she feels now.  She answers through her tears that she feels amazing.  Really?  Since "feel" can be a linking verb, it would equate with "state of being."  Therefore the speakers are saying they are amazing.  Perhaps that is what they mean to say, but that sense of the word should be reserved as a praise word, and, if modesty prevails, should be applied by others.  Had the made-over parties said they felt "amazed," meaning happily surprised, we would have no objections.  Blame it on the media:  "You're amazing, just the way you are."   Or we could hark back a few years to:  "Maybe I'm amazed at the way you love me."  Get it right: say what you mean to say.