troublesome twin words 9

[kristal9]

http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/42944.aspx

i really liked this article

 

[2ffat]

I like.

So the sentence should be, "There was so much flounder floundering in the nets, the ship foundered in the ocean."


James P. Cottingham
^{I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!}

 

[mscallisto]

I had to remove all the flounder in the boat before i founder.
she was smelly but ok.

sam

 

[SantaMufasa]

Other words where their misuse causes me great annoyance include:

[ul][li]recognizance and reconnaissance. I actually heard a talking head say on a news report: "The suspect has been released on his own reconnaissance." (The suspect must be able to spy on himself.)
[/li]

[li]I, me, and myself confusion.[/li][ul][li]"Our neighbors wanted to take my wife and I to dinner."[/li][li]"Me and my wife are going to go to dinner with our neighbors."[/li][li]"The waiter brought out the dinners to my wife and myself."
[/li][/ul]

[li]Ask and Axe. "I'm gonna axe him a question.
[/li]
[li]Et cetera versus ec cetera. "I try to avoid grammatical errors, typographical errors, logic errors, ec cetera."
[/li]
[li]Especially versus expecially. "Mis-use of words is expecially annoying."
[/li]
[li]Espresso versus expresso. "My friend cannot start the day without a cup of expresso."
[/li]
[li]Misconstrued versus misconscrewed. "You've misconscrewed what I said."
[/li]
[li]Affect versus effect. "If you want to effect people for the better, make sure to produce good affects in their lives."
[/li]
[li]You're versus your versus yore. "Your not able to change yore reputation in days of you're."
[/li]
[li]Ensure versus insure. "I want to insure that he understands correct word usage."
[/li]
[li]Farther versus further. "I drove further today than I've ever driven before."
[/li]
[li]Fewer versus less. "There were less people in the theater than we'd hoped for."
[/li]
[li]Imply versus Infer. "Your comment about her dress size infers that she is overweight."
[/li]
[li]Lay versus Lie. "If you lay down now, you'll fall asleep."
[/li]
[li]Partially versus partly. "Since he is partly blind, you must not let the room become partially cluttered."
[/li]
[li]Among and between. "A problem erupted between the players on the football team."[/li]
[/ul]

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[mscallisto]

I must agree, these two especially:

I, me, and myself confusion
Lay versus Lie.

 

[kwbMitel]

Median and Meridian. Incorrect usage heard: The accident was caused when the driver crossed the meridian.

**********************************************
What's most important is that you realise ... There is no spoon.

 

[guitarzan]

I love "misconscrewed"! Never heard that one before.

I also like "The accident was caused when the driver crossed the meridian", although technically that could be correct if the speaker 1) had a GPS and 2) was incredibly pedantic

 

[CajunCenturion]

or 3), the accident occurred when the driver crossed the Meridan.

But kwbMitel's point is valid. Meridian does not mean median.

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[SantaMufasa]

I'm thinking that every auto accident crosses a meridian, globally speaking. <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[kwbMitel]

I'm not sure if this one qualifies but it is one of my pet peeves.

Irregardless used instead of regardless

or

Irregardless used instead of irrespective

I don't believe irregardless to be a valid word but my belief could be wrong. I'd be interested to hear opinions on the matter.


**********************************************
What's most important is that you realise ... There is no spoon.

 

[SantaMufasa]

The origin of irregardless is not known for certain, but the speculation among references is that it may be a blend, or portmanteau word, of irrespective and regardless, both of which are commonly accepted standard English words. By blending these words, an illogical word is created. Since the prefix ir- means &quot;not&quot; (as it does with irrespective), and the suffix -less means &quot;without&quot;, irregardless is a double negative and therefore would have the meaning &quot;in regards to&quot; when that is not the intent. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Irregardless was first acknowledged in 1912 by the Wentworth American Dialect Dictionary as originating from western Indiana. Barely a decade later, the usage dispute over irregardless was such that, in 1923, Literary Digest published an article titled &quot;Is There Such a Word as Irregardless in the English Language?&quot;

Googling on the topic lists arguments that go either way as to the word's validity. Personally, I believe the word shows lack of precision and lack of proper English training. To me, it is in the same class as the (mis)use of other (made-up) &quot;words&quot; (some of which appear, above) such as unthaw, expecially, ec cetera, et cetera &lt;grin&gt;.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[CajunCenturion]

==> I don't believe irregardless to be a valid word
A prescriptivist would say that it's not a valid word. A descriptivist would say that as long as people use the word, then it's a valid word.

I don't consider it a valid word and I'll not use it, regardless of any descriptive leanings.




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Good Luck
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[BadBigBen]

as to the meridian (#3 in the definition shared by Santa), it could look something like this:

and in regard to 'irregardless', I've used it before, though not in writing but in speech, but I too prefer to use 'regardless' instead...

Espresso versus expresso. "My friend cannot start the day without a cup of expresso."

I can understand that... since 'espresso' does mean 'express/expressed'...

how about a tripple word trouble:

to, too, and two:

* I moved too the neighborhood.
* Yeah, me to.
* How two fix your plumbing.

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[karluk]

I still remember a discussion in my high school English class about the difference between "flammable" and "inflammable". It took quite a while to convince everyone that they are essentially synonyms. It certainly sounds as if they ought to mean different things, but Wikipedia claims that both are legit because of the existence of a Latin root.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flammability

Flammable and inflammable are synonyms and mean capable of burning. The word “inflammable” came from Latin “'inflamm?re” = “to set fire to,” where the prefix “'in-”' means “in” as in “inside”, rather than “not” as in “invisible” and “ineligible”. Nonetheless, “inflammable” is often erroneously thought to mean “non-flammable”. In the United States, this safety hazard is typically avoided by use of flammable, despite its not being the proper Latin-derived term, on warning labels referring to physical combustibility.

The antonym of flammable/inflammable is non-inflammable, incombustible or non-combustible.

 

[flyboytim]

I heard of a girl who was misconscrewed and the first thing she knew about it was that she was several months ignorant.

The use of "portmanteau" to describe a conjoined word was coined, I believe by Lewis Carroll (Revd. Charles Dodgson) in "Alice through the Looking Glass"

“Well, slithy means 'lithe and slimy.' Lithe is the same as 'active.' You see it's like a portmanteau — there are two meanings packed up into one word."

This is a double joke in itself - as portmanteau is a French compound word for "carry-cloak", and the English meaning is "a type of hand baggage in which things are packed"

Carroll was well pleased with this simile and went on to expound the meaning of "portmanteau" in another book:

Humpty-Dumpty’s theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all. For instance, take the two words ‘fuming’ and ‘furious’. Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little towards ‘fum-
ing’, you will say ‘fuming-furious’; if they turn, by even a hair ’s breadth, towards ‘furious’, you will say ‘furious-fuming’; but if you have that rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say ‘frumious’.
Supposing that, when Pistol uttered the well-known words—
‘Under which king, Bezonian? Speak or die!’
Justice Shallow had felt certain that it was either William or Richard, but had not been able to settle which, so that he could not possibly say either name before the other, can it be doubted that, rather than die, he would have gasped out ‘Rilchiam!’

The Revd. Dodgson was a mathematician and logician as well as an author of children's works, and his lesser known works are well worth a read as well as the "Alice" books, of course.

Carroll's writings are wonderfully readable for a Victorian author, and most of his published work is available online - a great resource is found here:

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Carroll, Lewis, 1832-1898

Misuse of "loose" when "lose" is the correct word, and "looses" for "loses" are my pet hates. I also hate the verb "to leverage".

http://www.fxxxingcomputers.co.uk

 

[kwbMitel]

BigBadBen / CajunCenturion - I stand Corrected, I suppose there are many places on earth where crossing a meridian may cause an accident. It's far more likely when crossing a median though.

Karluk - Inflamable vs Flamable - Inhabitable vs habitable. It always helps to have another example when talking about these things.

Santa Re:Irregardless - I never knew it went back that far (1912). I also don't trust most sources that define it as a word. Irrespective of the evidence, I won't use it regardless.

I love this thread! Learning sooo much.





**********************************************
What's most important is that you realise ... There is no spoon.

 

[BadBigBen]

another one that just popped to mind:

relief versus relieve

kwbMitel - it was no correction to your statement, just an added bonus... ;-)



Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[CajunCenturion]

==> It's far more likely when crossing a median though.
Yes, that's why I said your point is valid: meridian does not mean median.

--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read
FAQ181-2886
Wise men speak because they have something to say, fools because they have to say something. - Plato

 

[Annihilannic]

mute vs moot. A point that is no longer valid is is not a mute point!!

Annihilannic.

 

[SantaMufasa]

And, in fact, a moot point came from its use in the moot court of law schools. A moot court is a place where law students get to argue points (for practice before a court). So, until recent dictionary changes, a moot point meant that it was an arguable point, not a "no longer valid" point.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
“People may forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel.