You dirty homophones!

Calboner

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A solecism in another thread reminds me of the unhappy pair "undue" and "undo" (which, like "due" and "do," are homophonous only in some varieties of English).

It took Bill Clinton 8 years to undue 12 years of Reagan/Bush; it took GW 8 years to undue Clinton (and few others).
 

maxcok

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^ I saw that earlier, and I thought of you. It's good to see you're taking your presidential duties seriously.

What's unfortunate about that example is that it's been excerpted from what was otherwise an extremely well written and compelling essay. For me at least, the literary faux pas is especially jarring and distractive in that context and therefore lessens the power and impact of the writer's thesis. I think that's why good grammar is important, particularly when you're trying to say something you think is important.
 
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1kmb1

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i know right? lol im not a spelling or grammar nazi...

but you cant just accordance words with different definitions into a paranoia and expect it to make ennui.

although i generally avoid calling people out, because quite frankly i make mistakes all the time. and i wouldnt want to risk looking like a total and complete douche bag.
 

Calboner

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"Strait"--that's another word that people mess up, confusing it with its homophone "straight." It means "narrow" or "strict." It is in fact cognate with the latter expression, as it comes from the Old French "estreit" (modern French "étroit"), which comes from Latin "strictus." ("Straight," by contrast, comes from the Middle English verb "strecchen," from which "stretch" comes.) I think most people spell it correctly when it is used as a geographical proper name: they know to write "Bering Strait" and "Strait of Gibraltar" with "strait," not "straight." But they mess up these items:

strait jacket (not "straight jacket"; remember that it is a jacket that constricts you)

strait-laced (not "straight-laced"; the idea is that one's laces are tight, not that they don't curve)

strait and narrow (though "straight and narrow" is now so prevalent as to pass for correct)
 

Calboner

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Oh, yes: and it's "mother lode," a lode being a deposit of ore, not "mother load." I just found the slip of paper on which I jotted these things down. So that's the lot for now.
 

B_Hickboy

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Goodness, there are so many horrid examples on this site. But perhaps you meant utterances rather than people?
Yeah, utterances. The worst of the worst. There's enough material around here to keep us in stitches forever, and a fresh crop comes in every day.

Edit: Non-native speakers should get a pass. My hat's off to anybody who tackles my language.
 

maxcok

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"Strait"--that's another word that people mess up, confusing it with its homophone "straight." It means "narrow" or "strict." It is in fact cognate with the latter expression, as it comes from the Old French "estreit" (modern French "étroit"), which comes from Latin "strictus." ("Straight," by contrast, comes from the Middle English verb "strecchen," from which "stretch" comes.) I think most people spell it correctly when it is used as a geographical proper name: they know to write "Bering Strait" and "Strait of Gibraltar" with "strait," not "straight." But they mess up these items:

strait jacket (not "straight jacket"; remember that it is a jacket that constricts you)

strait-laced (not "straight-laced"; the idea is that one's laces are tight, not that they don't curve)

strait and narrow (though "straight and narrow" is now so prevalent as to pass for correct)
Actually.... I believe straight-laced, also straitlaced and straightlaced, are all commonly acceptable now too.

Oh, yes: and it's "mother lode," a lode being a deposit of ore, not "mother load." I just found the slip of paper on which I jotted these things down. So that's the lot for now.
I think a "mother load" is what you "deposit" on a MILF. Or if you're Cockney, on a 'ore.

It's good to see you're taking your presidential duties seriously.
Very seriously. Let us know if you need an expense account. We could probly spring for some pencils and pads.

Goodness, there are so many horrid examples on this site. But perhaps you meant utterances rather than people?
Or both, and not infrequently they're one and the same.
 
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Calboner

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Actually.... I believe straight-laced, also straitlaced and straightlaced, are all commonly acceptable now too.
Ugh. It may be commonly accepted, but I would still deny that it is acceptable.

Let us know if you need an expense account. We could probly spring for some pencils and pads.

I'm glad to see that there is still support for the antiquated technology known as handwriting.
 

wallaboi

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Examples:

  • pore, v.i. You don't pour (v.t.) over a book, unless there is some liquid that you are pouring over it: to study a book attentively is to pore over it.
Gee, it's great the things that you can learn on this site. Previously, the only meaning I knew of the word "pore" was those small spaces in your skin. I always thought the term was to "paw over a book" as in a kitten will intently paw its mothers breast, to stimulate the flow of milk. It seems that this is an expression that I heard as a child and associated with the feeling of getting a new book caressing the cover and leafing through the pages with my fingertips in anticipation of the knowlege or wonderful story I might extract.

I am slightly embarassed, but happy to have learned something new about our wonderful language.


Thanks, Cal great thread.
 
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Calboner

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Gee, it's great the things that you can learn on this site. Previously, the only meaning I knew of the word pore was those small spaces in your skin. I always thought the term was to "paw over a book" as in a kitten will intently paw its mothers breast, to stimulate milk. I am slightly embarassed, but happy to have learned something new about our wonderful language.

Ha ha, interesting conjectural etymology. Most Americans probably can't even imagine how "pore over" and "paw over" could be homophonous!
 

wallaboi

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Ha ha, interesting conjectural etymology. Most Americans probably can't even imagine how "pore over" and "paw over" could be homophonous!

I just did a bit of editing on my post, while you where making yours. Are you talking about accents?
 

willow78

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My grammar can be pretty terrible sometimes so I don't like to judge, but a couple of bug-bears.....

*People who write TILL when they mean 'TIL - this drives me up the wall!

*About 5 or 10 years ago, there was a novelty music act called "Hampton The Hampster" (sic) - I'm not usually bothered by novelty-pop (in fact I quite enjoy cheesy dance music and proud to admit it), but the spelling of hamster really made my brain implode! Especially as it was very popular with little children who probably grew up thinking that's how hamster is spelled.....

Reminds me of a story I read about the mega-success of Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" inadvertently causing some Americans to spell RUMOURS the British way instead of the U.S. RUMORS - but I don't know how true that story is.....
 

Calboner

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I just did a bit of editing on my post, while you where making yours. Are you talking about accents?

Yes. The only part of North America where you can hear an "r" in between the two words of "paw over" is the northeastern coast around Boston; and even there it would only be possible for a minority of speakers. For a large and increasing proportion of speakers, the words "paw" and "pore" don't even have the same vowel.

My grammar can be pretty terrible sometimes so I don't like to judge, but a couple of bug-bears.....

*People who write TILL when they mean 'TIL - this drives me up the wall!

BUZZZ! Clean-up in aisle 2: man with egg on his face! I quote Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1994):

Till and until are both venerable words, and are both highly respectable. [Uh, if something is venerable, is it not ipso facto also respectable?] The notion that till is a short form of until is erroneous: till is actually the older word, dating back to at least the 9th century. Until was first recorded around 1200. . . .

What 'til is, unarguably, is a variant spelling of till used by writers who do not know that till is a complete, unabbreviated word in its own right.

In other words, to write 'til under the impression that it is an abbreviation of until is analogous to writing 'to under the impression that it is an abbreviation of unto or 'round under the impression that it is an abbreviation of around. The latter error, unfortunately, is very common among Americans. (I don't think that speakers of English in the UK, where round is the preferred prepositional form, make the same error.)

About 5 or 10 years ago, there was a novelty music act called "Hampton The Hampster" (sic) - I'm not usually bothered by novelty-pop (in fact I quite enjoy cheesy dance music and proud to admit it), but the spelling of hamster really made my brain implode! Especially as it was very popular with little children who probably grew up thinking that's how hamster is spelled.....

This thread is not about misspellings per se, but while we are on the subject of music acts that have a deleterious effect on spelling, I will mention one that has had a disastrous effect on pronunciation: I believe that it is because of Bill Haley and the Comets, a music act from the 1950s, that people pronounce the name Halley in Halley's Comet as if it were Haley. The name of the discoverer of the comet is pronounced just as it is spelled, with a short "a" as in "hat."
Reminds me of a story I read about the mega-success of Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" inadvertently causing some Americans to spell RUMOURS the British way instead of the U.S. RUMORS - but I don't know how true that story is.....

Off-topic again, but I will add two other instances of the irritating use of British spellings by Americans: "glamour" for "glamor" and "theatre" for "theater." I wish that we (in the US) had never adopted these lame attempts at spelling reform, as they merely complicate matters and do not make spelling significantly easier; but since we did adopt them a hundred and some years ago, we should be consistent in using them.