Cheryl wrote:

> My dad once used the word awful in a sort of speech and explained why he
> used it in the context in which he did. He said the origin of the word
> is "full of awe" so that isn't a bad thing. It made people think.
> Because when he said what he referred to that was full of awe as awful,
> people didn't get it. He was an amazing man.

From that one anecdote, he sounds like a pedantic bore.