Enamored Of

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Judy Astra from New York.

Hi, Judy.

Where in New York are you?

I’m all the way downtown in Manhattan.

How can we help you today, Judy?

Well, I’ve been thinking about the word enamored.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, something new happening in your life?

No, I just, I am enamored of.

Thank you very much.

But I have been seeing the word enamored used with the word with instead of of.

Enamored with.

Yes.

And I looked it up a little bit online, and it seems to be acceptable, but it sounds wrong to me.

And then I thought, well, you say infatuated with, not infatuated of.

Good point.

And I was wondering what the differences could be.

I have some theories.

I know enamored of sounds like it comes from the French.

Exactly.

But I was wondering if you could fill in the gaps for me.

So the question here is kind of the difference between, if there is one, enamored with and enamored of, right?

And which would be considered, well, I guess more correct?

It’s a really good question.

In the United States, our usage differs a little bit from the British.

In the United States, we use both, but enamored of is more common.

And it’s going to cause less comment.

There’s nothing wrong with enamored with.

It’s just not as common, and it kind of stops people for a moment, and you might distract them from what you’re saying.

Exactly what it did to me.

Right, right.

Oh, really?

Exactly.

So enamored of is the better choice.

It’s not necessarily the only choice, but it is the better choice.

And if you think of it and you catch it in your own writing, use enamored of and you’ll be okay.

The British don’t use enamored with.

Not really.

They may be using it a little bit, but nowhere near to the degree that North Americans do.

And I’m wondering, too, I think that I’ve used both enamored of and enamored with, but I might use them differently depending on whether it’s a person or a thing, like a painting or an idea.

I’m not really sure.

But I think the of is there because it comes to us from the French, as you said, and there it’s enamored of.

And same thing in Spanish with enamorada de ti.

I’m in love with you.

I’m enamored of you.

Very interesting.

I should note at the risk of confusing people that there is another choice that a few people make, which you absolutely should not make.

And it should never be enamored by.

And that’s a mistake that people make.

And again, I bring it up at the risk of people not remembering later whether or not I said you should or should not use by.

But enamored by is not a good choice.

I would not use it ever.

Right.

That almost changes the nature of the word to a verb.

Mm—

Yeah.

So enamored of is the best choice.

Enamored with is okay if you use it and don’t catch yourself.

And infatuated with.

And love is always a good thing no matter what preposition it comes with.

That is true.

Thank you so much for calling, Judy.

Oh, thank you.

It’s our pleasure.

Bye-bye.

All right, bye-bye.

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