The English language has been around for long enough by now that words which once fell out of vogue have sometimes returned again in different forms. For instance, the word “defalk” once meant to lop something off with a sickle or pruning hook. It then linguistically morphed into the word “defalcate,” which sounds even worse, and is: it means to misuse or embezzle funds. In this era of shifting financial fortunes, the word “defalk” has a chance to make a comeback, as people line up outside their stockbrokers’ offices armed with sickles and pruning hooks.
Impress your friends and family with these five fine Words from the Past.
One of the great things about the English language is the way it is constantly evolving (for instance, the phrase “Schwing!” was all the rage in the early ‘90s, and hardly anyone says that anymore. Ask an older sibling – or Wikipedia – if you’re unsure of the definition.) Sometimes, however, terrific words get swept aside in favor of shiny new ones. In this series, we will look at words that have fallen into disrepair, and try to patch them up by showing their modern equivalent. Sometimes a word has been replaced by a compound word that is more specific to today’s world, and sometimes the exact same word has a completely different meaning than it carried in another era. Most often, though, there is no longer an exact term that brings the same succinctness and zing to what it is describing as these antiquated words do. In our effort to bring back words from the past, here’s Eduify’s first installment of 5 old words. Read the rest of this entry »
25. whole/ hole: I ate the whole bag of chips to fill the hole in my stomach.
26. incidence/ incidents: This situation was not a singular incidence, as there have been many similar incidents.
27. instants/ instance: In an instance, the rocket took off. The rocket did not take off in an “instants,” which is an odd word that simply mean the plural of “instant”.
28. insight/ incite: The article gave some people insight into the phenomenon of religious dogmatism, but for others, it merely incited anger and offense.
29. its/ it’s: It’s hard to find a shag carpet, as its texture has not been in vogue for some time.
30. later/ latter: I’ll either see you sooner or later, though my guess is the latter.
31. lay/ lie: I try not to lie, but I lay down whenever I get the chance.
32. peace/ piece: Peace will never happen as long as everyone wants a piece of the Middle East.
33. plain/ plane: The size of the plane is plain to see.
34. pore/ pour: Pour some of this medication onto your skin to shrink your pores.
35. precedence/ precedent: Our policies set the precedent, as we always give precedence to the oldest member.
Well Confucious for sure didn’t invent confusion, but Miss Panama is clearly confused.
Luckily, Eduify is the writing coach that is always by your side. We know how easily language can become confusing, and how easily words can become confused with one another. Confucious does sound like confusion, regardless of whether you’re speaking Spanish or English, so it’s (sort of) understandable how in a moment of pressure, Miss Panama associated these words together.
There are so many words in the English language that we tend to associate together, even when they have little to do with one another. Here is a list of words whose usage is commonly confused, and an example of correct usage for each word.
accept/except: He accepted all his mother’s gifts, except for the ugly Christmas sweater she obviously got at Costco.
advice/advise: You are not advised to disregard Miss Cleo’s advice, as she can see into your future.
affect/ effect: Not having a pair of 3-D glasses negatively affected my appreciation of the special effects in Jonas Brothers 3D available on Blu Ray.
allot/ a lot: I’m going to allot some room in my stomach for a lot of this candy.
already/ all ready: It’s not yet noon and I’m alreadyall ready to go!
all together/ altogether: This was altogether the worst meal we have eaten all together.
altar/alter: The altar I built in my room to the Twilight movie might alter my chances of landing a boyfriend.
beside/ besides: Besides, there’s already a piece of pizza beside you, so why do you need mine?
by/ bye/ buy: I will buy a good-bye present for my cousin at that new gas station by the 7-11.
canvas/ canvass: I am running for Mayor and would appreciate it if you canvassed for me by carrying this oil-on-canvas self-portrait of me all around town.
capital/ capitol: The capital of France is across the ocean from the Capitol buildings in Washington D.C.
cite/ site/ sight: I’m a law enforcement official, and I’m going to cite you for jay-walking within my sight, right here at the site of the crime.
clothes/ cloths: The cloth that he used to make those clothes was the most exquisite burlap.
coarse/ course: The coarse language she used toward her teacher of course landed her in detention during those years, and it was not surprising to anyone that she eventually landed in jail in her adult life.
complement/ compliment: The ranch dressing was a perfect complement to the wings, but it did not compliment my figure to continue eating it.
council/ counsel: The council of witches regularly meets to counsel the cats in the neighborhood on how to misbehave.
decent/ descent/ dissent: The descent of my grade from a decent B to an embarrassing F was the result of a dissent between my textbook and I.
desert/ dessert: The desert is no where to go looking for dessert involving mangoes or any other tropical fruit.
device/ devise: I devised a time-traveling device which, if properly used, will take me back to the time of the dinosaurs.
faint/ feint: I feinted ingeniously with 9P in my last game of chess with Cecil, and he was so taken aback he actually fainted over his Americano and petits fours.
farther/ further: I can go no farther on this journey until I read further in this book.
formally/ formerly: She’s not formally married to him right now, but she was formerly married to someone else before.
forth/ fourth: The fourth piece of pizza always does me in, until I am forced to go forth and lay down for a while.
here/ hear: If you put your ear here, to this shell, you can hear the ocean.
If you want to see more words commonly confused, check back tomorrow for words 25-50! This will be an ongoing series on Eduify’s blog of words commonly confused, to help you students differentiate between distinct ideas and write better and more clearly.
And always remember, if you have any confusion as to the usage of any of the above terms, make sure to look up the usage in a dictionary.
In your day-to-day vernacular, you probably use a lot of non-dictionary words. I, for one, have a habit of abbreviating things to the nth degree when I speak, to the point where “whatever” becomes “whatev,” “totally” becomes “totes”, “vacation” becomes “vacay”, “details” becomes “detes” and… you get the point. Sadly, I also use some words that are blatantly fabricated, like “criticality” when I mean “criticism”. Worse of all, I have an annoying habit of using the word “funner” when I ought to simply say, “more fun”.
However, as peppered as my speech patterns are with non-standard English, I try not to bring my own personal language into the sphere of academic writing. I couldn’t imagine what would go through an English teacher’s mind if I turned in a paper that said, “Yo, Herman Melville’s gynormous book about Moby Dick was super phat, cuz Ishmael will be one of my fave, most coolest protagonist forevs LOL.” Like, automatic F, right?
To help you write better, I compiled a list of 5 words you should avoid in all your papers. I understand the importance if irony, but the irony of using grammar and spelling like “Dey’s awluz at it, sah, en dey do mos’ kill me, dey skyers me so,” even in a paper about The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn (which that quote is directly lifted from) would completely be lost on your professor. So, without further ado:
1. Irregardless. This word is completely unacceptable in any universe where proper grammar is encouraged. According to Wikipedia, “Irregardless is a term meaning in spite of or anyway, that has caused controversy since it first appeared in the early twentieth century. It is generally listed in dictionaries as “incorrect” or “nonstandard”. This word is used to mean “regardless,” but with the inclusion of the “ir-” preceding the word, it is formed into a double negative. Logically, “irregardless” would mean “not regardless,” but of course, that’s not the way it’s ever used. Long story short: avoid.
