Two words which use the same letters and even sound the same, but have utterly different meanings.
I have noticed writers here using the wrong ones over the years and even in some recently posted offerings.
Discreet: Private, quietly, unobserved, out of sight of others nearby.
Discrete: Separate, individual, unconnected or disconnected.
Our readers usually know what is meant from context but when I read the wrong one being used it still jars.
Folks, take more care!
Penny
Comments
Reign and rein
is the one I seem to see all over the place. Particularly free reign which should be free rein from horse riding.
Throw in rain
In the Pacific Northwest we get a lot of free rain. As much as 200 inches/year.
Homonyms are a writer's bane. My latest version of Word has a better than most grammar checker and catches many, but not all misused words.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin ein femininer Mann
The reign in Spain stays Mainely in the plane?
.
in Sprain!
:D
A common error I see all the time……
Is authors writing “dinning room” rather than “dining room”.
It is an unfortunate outgrowth of spellcheck that many authors don’t catch those errors - since the words themselves are not mis-spelled, but rather incorrectly used, spellcheck will not catch the error.
Much the same as incorrect usage of there, their, and they’re. Or perhaps Mary, marry, and merry.
D. Eden
“Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir.”
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
faze and phase
The one that drives me up the wall is the number of people who are 'phased' by something. Please, 'faze'!
Welllllll………
Perhaps they actually change from solid to liquid? Or perhaps they are only going through one stage of their reaction?
Yeah, I know what you mean.
D. Eden
“Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir.”
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Set phasers to stun
I always thought people who used phased were Trekkies and just forgot.
Dogs have owners; cats have staff. Grand-daughters have minions.
Sure!
I would love so see someone being un-phased...
They'd be un-excited, then.
They'd be un-excited, then.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
And also
... in sci-fi actions where phasers are used :)
Most miss-used
Then there is the ever popular combo: your and you're.
Pippa NewHouse
Discreet and Discrete...
I'd been thinking I was just about the only writer here who knew the difference. Thanks for setting it straight again.
Eric
Discrete math
... vs. discreet math.
-- Daphne Xu
Another that always bothers me…….
Is break and brake.
You take a break, or you break a leg - but you apply the brake to stop a car.
Another word pair often misused is hung versus hanged.
But there are also the words which can be applied either way. Words like ketchup and catsup.
In all honesty, with the international mix of the community on this site there is always some amount of differences simply due to the variations in the use of the English language amongst us. For instance, the tube means something different to Americans than it does to those in the UK.
D. Eden
“Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir.”
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Not to mention non-native speakers
We should know better - and try better - but still... :(
brake vs. break
If you do not brake the car when needed, you often break it. ;-)
Yes……..
And then you will be broke because it will be broken!
D. Eden
“Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir.”
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Of course it may end up in the brake in that case
and it may be a problem to get it out of that thicket.
homophones
Growing up with severe Dyslexia and Autism, I never could figure out homophones. In College I learned a few tricks for some of them (like how to know the difference between their, there, and they're), but I still struggled. Then I started teaching kids 5 to 11. I had to learn more tricks to figure them out so I could teach my students. I still make a lot of mistakes with homophones, but I have gotten better after teaching little kids writing skills over the decades.
Please be patient with those of us who struggle with such things. Grammar checkers are becoming more common and better at checking such things, but not everywhere. Just remember, you don't know how much of a journey someone has gone through to write as well as they do. I know as a teenager my struggle with homophones drove some of my teachers nuts, but realized it was a minor issue compared to some of my other struggles with grammar. They could at least figure out what I was trying to communicate when I used the wrong homophone. My spelling skills were a different issue. So, their focus was on trying to teach me how to spell words wrong is such a way that a spell checker would have a chance of helping me get the right word. Yes, they stopped trying to teach me how to spell words correctly since in my mid teens they were still failing miserably at that, and instead they decided to teach me how to misspell words in such a way a mid 1980s spellchecker could help me. They would correct my homophone errors, but they had bigger problems to fix.
Please be patient with us. I'm in my 50s and still trying to figure them out. I haven't given up on this journey, but it is a slow process.
Keep Smiling, Keep Writing
Teek
(Teek's Author Page)
More
"Ad homonym attack" is a self-descriptive phrase. (The speaker/writer usually means "ad hominem attack".)
Seeing "tounge" (rhymes with lounge) grates me.
So does seeing "loose" when "lose" is meant. I'm trying to control that reaction, because I can see where the writer comes from. Try reading this: "Rose with the nose chose her clothes and hose, but proceeded to lose them." I'm tempted to write "looze" replacing "lose" in a story, because "loose" already has a meaning.
-- Daphne Xu
A Perennial
I spent many years reading letters where English was the second language of the writer. As long as I could discern the sense of the communication and reckoned others could as well I tried to refrain from correcting what had been written. This was mainly because I did not want to discourage the writer, who was doing his or her best.
In a lot of cases it is similar on this site. Stories contain mis-spelt words but the gist is perfectly obvious. Authors do not always have the best of educations but produce excellent stories. If these were to go to publishing they would be proofread and corrected.
We should give some leeway to the free stories that entertain us and not look too far down our noses at relatively minor mistakes. The main criterion should be whether you understood and enjoyed it. If something really jars write a PM to the author and give them the opportunity to correct it.
I can be as pedantic as anyone but I try not to rub people's noses in it.
English
Is the only foreign language I ever studied. I’ve been at it for nearly eight decades and I’m still not feeling I’m anywhere near mastering it.
Then there’s the difference between UK and USA English.
For example: Spelt.
I have to notice the author’s country to understand what’s written
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin ein femininer Mann
Discreet and discrete
I have to admit to using discrete more than discreet. My question is - if discreet means keeping a secret, why isn't discretion spelt 'discreetion'?
How about bore, boar, bored and board. Then beer and beard, bard and bared.
No wonder so many have problems with the language.
Marianne
English
I will be the first to admit that English is an absolutely terrible language that should be banned across the globe for all of it's own rules that it has exceptions to or out right violates. It doesn't matter what side of the pond you are on, the language is terrible. I suspect this is because it is based on a compilation of other languages over time. History had people who spoke this terrible language travel the globe and teach it to others around the world. It became the language of trade, so people learned this terrible language just because the people with money and ships spoke it. We can not go back and change the past, and unfortunately, no one is interested in doing anything to change the language in the future to make it more friendly and rule following. Even just a little less confusing would be helpful. No, one generation had to suffer with the stupidity of the language, so they force the next generation to do the same. The cycle continues generation after generation. You want to know how crazy the language is, just looks at some of the tricks we have to come up with to help people figure out how to spell words
- desert vs dessert = the sweet one you eat after a meal has two S's because you always want seconds of it
- garden vs kindergarten = the school one has a T in the end because kids learn to count to ten in Kindergarten
- Principal vs principle = The one that runs the school ends with PAL cause that person is your pal (let's ignore the fact that the person is rarely your pal)
- I before E, except after C. When the two letters make the sound of long A, as in neighbor and weigh, E before I is the way (and we will ignore all the exceptions to this rule)
We can't get our language right, no wonder our calendar is so messed up: 30 days has September, April, June, and November. All the rest have 31, except for February with 28 and 29 (29 days on years with a summer Olympics and years where us crazy USA residents threaten global stability by having a presidential election)
Please forgive us future generations for handing down to you a totally messed up and crazy language and calendar system.
Keep Smiling, Keep Writing
Teek
(Teek's Author Page)
Kindergarten is a German word adopted into English……
It literally translates to “children’s garden”. Therefore, the difference between “garten” and “garden” is because they are from different languages. Therefore the similarity between them falls to the fact that English is a Germanic language at its root.
Additionally, the “ie” versus “ei” thing also goes back to German - but the difference being is that in German, “ie” is pronounced as a long “e” and “ei” is pronounced as a long “i”. In other words, you pronounce the second letter when speaking German. Unfortunately, that rule does not carry over to English.
Although German is the root language from which English developed, it incorporated multiple other languages as well - which has resulted in the mishmash we deal with today. American English is even worse than UK English due to the incorporation of more words from other languages, as well as the coining of new words over time.
D. Eden
“Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir.”
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Every lingua franca goes this way
Consider Latin. It had the same role until the late Middle Ages. It incorporated words from other languages. And it split to the High Latin - the officially spoken language, the one of the government, the books, the Church etc - and Vulgata - the street Vulgar Latin, from which however originate all Romance languages.
I bet that in a few centuries an English version - likely close to the official International English - will be the then-equivalent of the High Latin, while there will also be a family of English-based languages, all derived from the street English, full with foreign words, misspellings, shortcuts, words that originate from idioms but have lost that meaning, etc.
Likely also languages from this family will be used in countries where no ethnic group originally speaks English. You can see this in EU, which currently includes no country whose language was originally English - but it is the common language of all of it, used in every environment that includes people with differing native languages. And the more the EU integration grows, the more environments become as diverse. In a couple generations, you will likely see there kids who speak English better than their "native" language - and this English is likely a Vulgar one.
As for calendar etc, it is worldwide, not American only. I believe that Americans would benefit more from gradually phasing (fazing? ;) ) in the metric system, but this is just a personal opinion...
As for the calendar
We can blame that one on the Caesars. Specifically Julius and Augustus. Julius, because he commissioned the Julian calendar, and Augustus because he noted the Julius' month (July) had 31 days, while his month (August) only had 30; so he robbed one from February and tagged it onto August.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin ein femininer Mann
Neutral (neutered?) language
Since the UK left English has become a "neutral" language in the EU with no "home advantage" to any major member country.
Calendars are not really worldwide but used in practically every instance of international contact.
The issue with the metric system is twofold……
When I was still in my teens, it was common to teach both systems in this country. Partially because it was the system commonly used in the sciences, and was therefore taught in classes such as chemistry, but also because it made sense to move that direction along with the rest of the world. As we began importing more things into this country (cars, appliances, furniture, etc.), the average person soon had to deal with both SAE and metric standards. This required two sets of tools - which is a major pain in the ass, and an additional expense.
Unfortunately, there was significant pushback from older Americans. They had the misconception that dealing with the metric system is harder, which it is not, and the common issue of not wanting to change. There was also the nationalistic intransigence due to the fact that the metric system was not invented here. Of course the fact we use the English system apparently never sunk in; it obviously wasn’t invented here either, lol! The fact that the metric system originated in France probably didn’t help - for some obscure reason, there has always been a significant portion of the population in this country who dislike anything French, and consider French people to be arrogant. Add in the fact that cooking measurements in this country are all in the old English system, and you have another segment of our population reticent to change.
Over time, this had the effect of de-emphasizing the education of the metric system. Although it is still used in the sciences, the fact that we still measure distances in inches, feet, yards, and miles, and we measure velocity in mph, and we still cook in teaspoons and tablespoons, cups and ounces, and pump our gas in gallons, is definitely slowing any transition down.
Another strange item that most people would not notice, but had an impact on my time in the military: the US Army and US Air Force measure distances in meters, while the US Navy still uses yards and miles. This can have a significant impact over n artillery strikes versus naval gunnery. The difference with the Navy is primarily derived from the use of nautical miles. Historically, a nautical miles was defined as the meridian arc length of one minute of latitude at the Earth’s equator. Today that is denied internationally as 1852 meters, or approximately 6076 feet (1.151 miles).
D. Eden
“Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir.”
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Of course US people dislike French
They prefer that to be grateful. Without France, especially the navy, the United States would most likely never have made out of the British Empire.
And as often has been said, even before the backlash the US was only going over to the metric system inch by inch.
Very true about the French in our Revolutionary War…..
Especially their navy - a point most people in the US tend to forget. However, I would say we have returned the favor as far as that is concerned. But there is little point in counting coup where that is concerned. The point should be doing the right thing and not worrying about who owes who.
After all, we have enough assholes like Trump who will throw out his stupid comment, “If it wasn’t for the US you would all be speaking German.” That isn’t exactly what I call acting presidential. I had to listen to that kind of crap from my father’s family until I turned 18 and left home for college.
D. Eden
“Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir.”
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
The really funny part about this...
... is that Germany, Austria and Switzerland (where this comment was said) DO (still) speak German. :D :D :D
Some time ago, a friend of mine had found on Twitter that his teenage son discusses girls in a less than nice language. So he advised the kid right there to behave better. Someone else replied to him: "Shut up you dumbfuck, are you his father to chastise him?"
SNL did a nice explainer, a few years back
You probably caught it, but . . . it’s all about Freedumb, natch:
Washington’s Dream
— Emma
‘Murica!
A classic!
D. Eden
“Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir.”
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Not really
The principal resistance to adopting metric comes from American manufacturing. As long as they have a captive market in the US, it doesn't make sense to go to the expense of changing over. Britain mostly changed over when the Empire was lost and British manufacturing wanted to reach Euro markets. American factories have access to the largest single market in the world, with an auto lockout on a huge slice of competition. Euro markets? Who cares? But the world changes and so, someday, will America.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
I beg to differ…..
As an engineer, every industry I have ever worked with prefers metric.
D. Eden
“Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir.”
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Ooops!
Double.
Not Totally Imperial
A US gallon is 80% of an imperial gallon. Why? I guess this means that a US pint is less than an imperial pint too.
Oddball differences
That's one of the oddball differences between US and Imperial measurements. In fact, I suspect that the difference comes earlier than the War of Independence, when it would have been 'English' instead of 'Imperial' measures. (Though Britain has long had colonies, it only technically became an Empire when Queen Victoria was declared Empress of India.)
In the US they decided to make a pint of water weigh a pound, so 16 ounces. In Britain, a pint weighs 20 ounces. Obviously gallons are pro rata. That's why US cars seem to use a lot more gallons per mile than ours do. (Miles are the same distance, fortunately.)
I have no idea why these are different but its yet another source of confusion between two seemingly compatible systems.
Dogs have owners; cats have staff. Grand-daughters have minions.
In the UK there's a liittle rhyme ...
... 'A pint of water, weighs a pound and a quarter' so we remember how many ounces in a pint. Of course it would be better if we bit the bullet and stopped hanging on to imperial units altogether and go fully metric and I'm 86 so I was brought up on outdated units. For some reason we hang on to pints for beer and miles for distance/speed.
US saying....
"A pint is a pound, the world round." :) Which goes back to an English saying before the Empire went all Imperial and still used British Traditional Units.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Imperial gallon is special
A US gallon gets 4 quarts, but the imperial gallon gets 5 quarts
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin ein femininer Mann
This one I know.
This one I know.
The U.S. Customary system was codified shortly after the Revolutionary War, and the gallon is eight pounds. The _British_ government, in the early 1800's, decided that they needed to rejigger (pun intended) the liquid measurements, and made the gallon _ten_ pounds. Basically, it was an attempt to go to base 10 for the weight to liquid conversion, because there's something wrong with base 8. (The big fallacy of the metric system - that base 10 is somehow magical. It's not. It's identical to base 12 or base 16 in difficulty - if you teach it. Base 2, what our computers use, don't care if it's base 8, 10, 12, or 16 for input/output - it's just a conversion)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
The Air Force uses knots. In
The Air Force uses knots. In fact, knots are used worldwide for both ocean and air travel, because of the variant of speed between perceived and actual velocity.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Hart's rules for compositors and readers, and other gripes.
It is always difficult to separate homonymes in all the variants of English. As a starting point I use Hart's Rules that puts me straight on many occasions to do with grammar and spelling. I also have a book in two volumes that contains hundreds of unique dialect words used 150 years ago in just part of the county in the UK where I was born and brought up. An area no more than 20 miles in each direction. Most of these are now obsolete. My concern is where words that have a meaning to me are usurped by the next generation to mean something entirely different and someone, somewhere finds my previous use of the word offensive. (I am not talking about pejorative terms here.)
My other gripe is the constant use of superlatives instead of comparatives or a simple adjective. How does one indicate that something needs a superlative if the language has been diluted by the overuse of superlatives? In the same vein, I hate the use of the word 'unique' in so many contexts. Something can never be unique if there has been or is more than one of the thing. ... oh and while I am on a bandwagon, I wish people would understand 'exponential' and not use it wrongly. Gripe over.
With me, I try to limit my
With me, I try to limit my use of the word 'hate', because it's a hot feeling that is directly related to 'love'. I say I detest things, loathe things, despise things, but rarely hate them. You could say I find the overuse of 'hate' to be abominable.
I do abhor the fad where people reverse the meanings of words, such as 'moot'. Even 'you're so cool you're hot' is infuriating.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
I've pointed out the
I've pointed out the 'discreet' and 'discrete' before. Most authors get upset when you call them on it, and the ones that don't seem to not care at all.
Racked and wracked are another pair that are misused. 'Racked' means that you're being put ON a rack (either for torture or storage). Wracked means that you're being damaged/ruined/destroyed. (Wrack and ruin)
So, if Torquemada grabs you, you'll be racked, then wracked with pain. You can 'rack your brain' (which to me means trying to sort it out), or you can 'wrack your brain' (I'm thinking so hard it hurts).
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Word abuse
So many cringe worthy word misuses being summarize in pouring over this thread.
I await with baited breath what I will catch next.
^_~
O rly?
+5 Funny.
Dogs have owners; cats have staff. Grand-daughters have minions.
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