A Little Brain-Teaser
What’s the difference between the words stalactite and stalagmite? This is a trick question.
How the Grammar Guru Embarrassed Herself With the State Capital
Once upon a time, the Grammar Guru was just a cocky teenager without much good sense. She read a newspaper headline that said “Protesters Converge on State Capital” and decided that her local newspaper needed the benefit of her editorial skills. She called to complain that the newspaper should get it right … when referring […]
Don’t Waive That, You Aberrant Flag-Waver!
Today’s “Get it straight!” pointer is for two words that sound just alike, but mean two completely different things. And you look silly when you mix them up. Trust me. A waiver is a release form stating that you will not hold another entity responsible if something bad happens to you. You sign them before surgery, […]
If You Keep Peeking Over that Peak, I’m Going to Get Seriously Piqued!
Some more sound-alikes to cause you trouble. A peak is the top of something, like a mountain. It’s a noun. Examples: Everest is the highest mountain peak on Earth. Bob reached the peak of his career in 1998. To peak means to reach the topmost limit of ability or performance. It’s a verb. Example: His […]
Hey! Get It Right, Can’t Ya?!
I think I know what my first published work is going to be. When I was 10, I started writing a Homonym Dictionary (they call them homophones now). You know what homonyms and homophones are (no, not the nicknames of openly gay individuals nor the earphones they wear with their portable CD players) — they’re […]
That Pallet of Palettes Isn’t Heavy….
Okay, here are three words that sound almost exactly alike, but mean totally different things. Pallet: /PA’ lit/ The slatted wooden box that underlies large shipments; also the shipment itself. A pallet jack is a small hydraulic jack/forklift used to hoick a pallet of goods off the warehouse floor and transport it onto a semi […]
Don’t Confuse These Two!
Here is a mistake I am seeing more and more often. It bugs the heck outta me. Where is an adverb meaning “in what location.” Were is a verb, the past tense of “to be,” meaning “formerly” or “existed in the past.” Perhaps the mistakes I am seeing are the result of sloppy typing. If […]
You Can’t Censure a Censor for Doing His Job
Three words that are often confused, and that have little to do with each other: censor, censure, sensor, and censer. Let’s get the censer out of the way first, as it bears no conceivable relation to the other two, except in approximate pronunciation. A censer (/SEHN sur/) is an incense burner that can be swung […]
People, Please! Use Your Dictionary!
Or, if not your actual, hardback, unabridged, at least type things into dictionary.com before you post a spelling that makes you look like a sloppy, uneducated wanna-be writer. In flipping through blog titles this morning — just titles, mind you — I came across at least a dozen misspellings. Most of these might have simply […]
Keep Your Mitts Off My …
Mettle…Metal…Meddle…Medal? This is where poor pronunciation gets us … pure confusion. These four words are so often mispronounced (well, okay, pronounced sloppily) that their misuse in writing is almost as certain as death and taxes. So here’s the easy way to remember how to use them: Metal (/meh-tuhl /) is a noun meaning a substance […]