‘Coo’ and ‘coup’

February 1, 2016March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 4 Comments

Coo and coup couldn’t really be more different in meaning. The sentences produced when they are used mistakenly can be distracting if you enjoy the surreal.

Coo

the soft throaty sound made by birds such as doves and pigeons
to speak in a soft, gentle way; a loving murmur
(old-fashioned British slang) an exclamation of surprise or amazement

Coup

(coup d’état) a sudden, violent and illegal overthrow of a government
a difficult or brilliant action successfully achieved

I am tickled by the idea of pigeons leading a violent regime change or armies taking part in a gentle murmur. But you probably don’t want that in your dissertation or novel. Unless you do …

Floccinaucinihilipilification

January 29, 2016March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 6 Comments

Floccinaucinihilipilification is rarely used. I don’t think I need to explain why.

It means ‘the action or habit of believing something to have no value’.

Its origin is thought to be mid 18th century, and stems from the Latin words flocci, nauci, nihili, pili (all of their meanings have the sense of little value) with the suffix –fication.

The use of floccinaucinihilipilification is so unusual that it made the news in 2012 when a British MP spoke the word in the House of Commons. It became the longest word in Hansard (the official report of proceedings).

You can listen to the British English pronunciation here if you fancy trying it out yourself.

‘Plain’ and ‘plane’

January 25, 2016March 16, 2016Hannah McCall Leave a comment

This is fairly basic but it is easy to type or write the wrong word when you are in a hurry. I tend to find that plane is used in place of plain. I haven’t yet seen an aircraft referred to as a ‘plain’.

Plain

without decoration or adornment
without pattern or with one colour or with simple weave (when a fabric)
having no particular beauty
flat or smooth
easily understood; clear or simple; unequivocal
a lowly person or lowly people (usually in social rank or education)
a simple stitch in knitting
to mourn, lament or complain

Plane

an aeroplane
to glide, skim or soar without moving wings
a level surface; level or flat
a flat surface on which a straight line joining any two points on it lies entirely on that surface
a level of existence, thought or attainment
a tool with a block and projecting steel blade for smoothing timber or wooden surfaces; to smooth timber or remove material using a plane
a type of tall spreading tree

Polysemous

January 22, 2016March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 5 Comments

Polysemous is a term for words that have more than one meaning. Most words in general use are polysemous.

The word is thought to be early 20th century in origin. It comes from the prefix poly-, meaning ‘many’, and the Greek word sēma, meaning ‘sign’.

Words with a single meaning are monosemous.

Hyphens

January 20, 2016March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 3 Comments

I have previously covered how to use an en dash (–) and an em dash (—). Now to turn to the thing they are not: a hyphen.

A hyphen (-) shows that the matter it is attached to is not a complete word by itself. It should not be used with a space at both ends, although sometimes it is appropriate for it to have a space at one end.

The use of hyphens is often a matter of style. But they are used to do the following things:

join compound words
join compound modifiers
attach prefixes
indicate a piece of a word
indicate a word break at the end of a line

You might have heard of soft hyphens and hard hyphens. Soft hyphens are those that indicate word division at the end of a line. Hard hyphens are those that indicate words or parts of words are joined together to form compounds. There’s no difference in size or shape.

Hyphens are also used to indicate stammering or paused speech:

'W-w-what are we to do?'

And they indicate the omission of the second part of a hyphenated expression or solid compound:

three- and five-door cars
over- and underpaid employees

If you would like to find out more about when to use a hyphen, I can recommend the Penguin Guide to Punctuation for a thorough and simple explanation.

‘Mold’ and ‘mould’

January 18, 2016March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 2 Comments

The difference between mold and mould is the u. The meanings are the same. If you use American English, the spelling is mold. If you use British English, the spelling is mould.

Mold/mould:

a shaped hollow container into which liquid is poured so it sets in a particular shape
a shape, form, nature, character or type
a framework around which something is constructed or shaped
something made using a mould (usually a foodstuff)
to make something in a mould
to shape, form, influence, change or direct
a growth of fungi or bacteria that typically develops in a warm, damp atmosphere
soft loose soil (often rich in organic matter)

Googleganger

January 15, 2016March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 3 Comments

Googleganger is a fairly new word; it has an equally interesting synonym in doppelgoogler.

A googleganger is a person who has the same name as you and is discovered when you search for yourself using an internet search engine.

The origin of both googleganger and doppelgoogler is the originally German word doppelgänger, meaning ‘a double of a living person’.

Googleganger has been named the Macquarie Dictionary word of the year (2010) and was nominated (in the form Googlegänger) for word of the year (2007) by the American Dialect Society.

Em rules

January 13, 2016March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 7 Comments

Last week I posted about en rules. An em rule (—) is twice the length of an en rule (–). They are also referred to as en dashes and em dashes.

You will often see em rules used closed up (no spaces on either side) as a parenthetical dash; this is usually the preferred style for US publishers (instead of spaced en rules).

A spaced em rule can indicate the omission of a word; a closed-up em rule can indicate the omission of part of a word. It can also be used closed up in written dialogue to indicate a sudden break or interruption:

'You probably shouldn't put your knife in the toast—'

It is unusual but you might see some writers use a single closed-up em rule to set off dialogue instead of using quotation marks:

—Will he make it for dinner tonight?
—Not in this weather!

You may also see a closed-up em rule between an introductory noun (or nouns) and the pronoun introducing the main clause:

Cars, thunder, the neighbour's cat—nothing disturbed the plucky dog.

Em rules are used in indexes to indicate a repeated word, and they are sometimes used to indicate a repeated author’s name in consecutive bibliographic entries.

‘Cue’ and ‘queue’

January 11, 2016March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 4 Comments

The first homophones of the year are cue and queue. The order of the vowels in queue is also a source of confusion for some writers.

Cue:

a signal for action
a signal for an actor to enter or begin
a hint or signal about how to behave
a reminder
a long, straight, tapering wooden rod used to strike the ball in games such as billiards and snooker; to hit a ball with a cue
to act as a prompt or reminder
to set audio or visual equipment in readiness to play
on cue – at the right moment

Queue:

a line or sequence of people or vehicles awaiting their turn; to form or remain in a line while waiting
(in computing) a list of data items, commands, etc., stored so they are retrievable in a particular order; to arrange such items in a queue
a plait of hair or braid worn at the back
to be keen to do or have something (e.g. they were queuing up to hire him)

Cue jokes about British people in a queue.

Gallimaufry

January 8, 2016March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 3 Comments

No, I have not misspelled Gallifrey.

Gallimaufry is an old-fashioned word and I think it deserves to be used more than it is.

It means ‘a confused jumble’, and it is a synonym of the equally glorious hodgepodge.

Gallimaufry originally meant ragout (the stew). It first appeared in the mid 16th century, having developed from the archaic French word galimafrée meaning ‘unappetizing dish’.

It is thought to combine the Old French galer ‘to have a good time’ with the dialect mafrer ‘to eat a lot’.