Last week, I was editing a document for a client and came across the following phrase:
a deep seeded confidence
I hadn’t seen this usage before, but I thought it’d make a good blog post topic.
The phrase should actually be “a deep seated confidence” despite “deep seeded” making sense, at least metaphorically. In this case, the confidence was planted deeply (in the heart, in the mind, etc) to make it sturdy and stable.
However, “seated” in this context means something that’s fixed firmly in place. So, something that’s deep seated is not only fixed firmly in place, but deeply, too. So, maybe it’s affixed with super glue and anchors.
