>From the Post's coverage of the VA Tech massacre: "Leanne Lawrence was jarred awake at 4 a.m. yesterday, replaying in terror the image of students who tried to keep classroom doors shut as the gunman rattled and then shot through them. But she still isn't sure she wants to talk about it. She is so weirded out by the lack of classes that she had decided to head to her boyfriend's house in Richmond for the rest of the week. But she isn't sure how she'll handle it Monday when school restarts, either."
I've never seen the expression "weirded out" in a newspaper article when it wasn't part of a quote. Is this an acceptable formal expression now? I don't even use it when I speak in a professional setting. I can't figure out if the writer was using Ms. Lawrence's own words or decided independently to write that. Even "freaked out" would sound better, or maybe "disoriented"? I'm sure there are many synonyms that would not sound so colloquial. Weirded isn't really a word and there is no verb form of weird as far as I know. At least to freak is an accepted verb, more or less. My 2c. Just wondering if you guys have come across this before.
