Affecting an Effect

[LizSara]

Why is it that so many people get these two words wrong? More to the point why do so few people use affect these days?

Affect

verb (used with object)

1. to act on; produce an effect or change in: Cold weather affected the crops.
2. to impress the mind or move the feelings of: The music affected him deeply.
3. to attack or lay hold of.

noun

4. Psychology. feeling or emotion.
5. Psychiatry. an expressed or observed emotional response: Restricted, flat, or blunted affect may be a symptom of mental illness, especially schizophrenia.
6. Obsolete. affection; passion; sensation; inclination; inward disposition or feeling.

Effect

noun

1. something that is produced by an agency or cause; result; consequence
2. power to produce results; efficacy; force; validity; influence
3. the state of being effective or operative
4. a mental or emotional impression produced, as by a painting or a speech.
5. meaning or sense; purpose or intention
6. the making of a desired impression
7. an illusory phenomenon
8. a real phenomenon
9. special effects

verb (used with object)

10. to produce as an effect; bring about; accomplish; make happen

Idioms

11. in effect
12. take effect

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"Whoever battles with monsters had better see that it does not turn him into a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. ~ Nietzsche"
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[pinkgecko]

You effectively affected my affection for literary effects!

[blue]When birds fly in the correct formation, they need only exert half the effort. Even in nature, teamwork results in collective laziness.[/blue]

 

[ESquared]

I think there was a thread about this not too awfully long ago.

 

[LizSara]

I found one asking what the difference was between them (

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1391767&page=3).

I am more interested in why one seems to have been superceded by the other when their meaning is clearly different?

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"Whoever battles with monsters had better see that it does not turn him into a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. ~ Nietzsche"
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[KenCunningham]

Just slovenly usage probably.

I want to be good, is that not enough?

 

[Ed2020]

One hasn't superseded the other, it's just that not everybody is as literate as we are.

Ed Metcalfe.

Please do not feed the trolls.....

 

[columb]

Try this cartoon which fits this thread.

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy

 

[xwb]

It is just the use of similar sounding words like insurance and assurance by people whose teachers never stressed on correct spellings.

No language is perfect, every language reuses similar sounds for different purposes and those who just pick it up instead of learning it properly will make mistakes. How about something nonsensical like

The rose coloured fish rose to lay its roes shaped like rhos in rows.

Same sound, same spelling sometimes, different meaning every time.

 

[Michael52x]

Argle-Bargle

"Impatience will reward you with dissatisfaction" RMS Cosmics'97

 

[BobRodes]

<Try this cartoon which fits this thread.
I tried hitting the next button in the linked page. The result ("Exploits of a mom") doesn't fit the thread, but is hilarious and fits the theme of our site in general.

 

[Stella740pl]

Really? Result I got fits this thread exactly.

 

[Stella740pl]

Oh, now I realize that you hit the Next button. Sorry.
I actually tried previous a few times, and I love this one:

http://xkcd.com/323/

 

[BobRodes]

Well, that's cool. How did you get that to show the image? Did you transfer it to a site of your own?

 

[Stella740pl]

No. I don't have one.
See [navy]Process TGML[/navy] link below the new post textbox for details.

This: [ignore]

[/ignore]

will give you this:

 

[BobRodes]

Oh, there you go. I missed the fine print. So here:

This one went on my wall at work!