Rabid Rabbit
Member
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2004
- Messages
- 464
Comparing two items, one weighs 10 lbs. the other weighs 1 pound or 10 times less than the 10 lbs item. Its 1/10 not 10 times.
Then again, read the chronicles of Lewis & Clark to see truly creative spelling
Wrong: Nucular (noo-cue-lar). It's nuclear (noo-clee-ar), you rusticated sons of the earth.
Here is a quick tour of other English words and expressions that folks often unwittingly botch, chew up and abuse, compiled by staff writer Bill Dawson, with assistance from some of the newsroom's pickiest wordsmiths: John Addington, Ben Welter, Bill Hammond, Paul Walsh and Sarah T. Williams.
Gail Rosenblum, Variety Team Leader
1 "Jim Turner not only came back to his old stomping grounds; he's living in them." Should read, "old stamping grounds," but don't feel bad if this one stumps you. Most people get it wrong.
2 "Local children vow to staunch the flow of drugs and alcohol." Purists say it's "stanch" the flow, although some dictionaries accept "staunch." More confusing, the words are usually pronounced the same (stawnch).
3 "My siblings and I would pour over the pages until they were dog-eared and tattered." Pour is a poor choice here, unless you're pouring honey on the text. (And that would be an even poorer choice, kids.) The correct spelling is pore.
4 "It was just a fluke that the car went off the road and hit that oak tree, demolishing the vehicle." Purists reserve the use of "fluke" for strokes of good luck, not acts of misfortune.
5. "We are chomping at the bit to have this deal closed." If you said "chomp," you're neither a chump nor a champ. "Champing" is right, but few people know it.
6 "Yesterday, little Oliver asked for more oatmeal, and I had to sick the dog on him." You only "sick" (sic) your dog if you give him germs, and that would be cruel and grammatically wrong.
7 "I saw my reflection and realized I was butt naked!" Time to, uh, expose this for what it is -- wrong. Bare tushie or not, "buck naked" is the correct wording.
8. "I could care less about elitist liberal ramblings."
• Don't get careless by using the incorrect "care less," when you actually mean "couldn't" care less.
9. "It doesn't phase me that the party doesn't support vouchers. It phases me that the senator says taxes are going to be raised."
• You'll get an A if you write the word with an F, as in faze.
10. "The image of a deeply torn Israel doesn't jive with reality."
• Jive (wrong) doesn't jibe (right) with this usage. So we're giving you a little gibe (taunt) about it.
Also mangled and misused
• Enormousness, not enormity. Enormity means excessive wickedness. Enormousness refers to size.
• Nonplussed. Although it means perplexed or bewildered, nonplussed is often believed to mean just the opposite--calm, unruffled, cool-as-a-cucumber.
• Penultimate. Meaning "next to last," penultimate is often mistakenly used to mean "the very last," or the ultimate.
• Fortuitous. Means accidental; not lucky, and not luckily accidental. To use it like that is a malapropism. Serendipitous is the word you need in those situations.
• Aggravate. Means to worsen; irritate means to annoy. Don't use aggravate when you mean irritate.
As long as we're at it:
More importantly (More important is correct).
Irregardless (Regardless is correct).
Running the gauntlet (Gantlet is correct).
A prized momento from Grandma (correct: Memento. The root is based on memory, not moment).
Reins (leather straps)/Reigns (What a queen does).
Alot (No such word. It's two words: "a lot").
Principal" and "principle" are constantly confused. Hint: The school principal is your pal. Unless he or she is suspending your kid, which would be the principal (as in "primary") reason to take away the car keys. That, by the way, would be a principled approach by Mom and Dad.
Capital (the city) vs. Capitol (the building), which we capitalize.
Hanger (for clothes)/Hangar (for airplanes).
Bridal path (Actually, it's bridle).
Effect/Affect: Usually, the first is the noun, the latter the verb.
Stationary (motionless)/Stationery (writing paper).
Breech (part of a gun; also, buttocks)/Breach (an infraction).
Sheer (transparently thin)/Shear (to cut).
Horde (a crowd)/Hoard (what kids do with a bag of popcorn).
Flair (natural talent)/Flare (to blaze)
Deja vu: It's not that you did experience something, only that you felt that you did.
You can say that again
Phenomena is plural/Phenomenon is singular.
Media is plural/Medium is singular.
Kudos means "praise," and is not a plural noun. So don't say "He gave me a kudo." No such word, my friend.
Gun auctions that advertise "Colt For Sell" or "Saleing a kimber" really drive me nuts.
a little OT but what really gets to me is when you are on an auction site and people list something like a jennings or some POS you arent searching for... and the put " Not glock colt or kimber" so when you are searching for something of higher quality THEIR crap comes up in the search results!!!!
Wrong: Nucular (noo-cue-lar). It's nuclear (noo-clee-ar), you rusticated sons of the earth.
No, its pronounced nukular.
Oh?"massive"
It's not a synonym for "large"; it means "the quality of having mass".
Then I think one ought to expand one's practical vocabulary and say large.Pretty much all seem to mean large.