words

‘Sail’ and ‘sale’

Hannah McCall 3 Comments

Sail and sale are homophones. I suspect incorrect usage usually occurs by accident or because the writer is more familiar with one word than the other.

Sail

  • a sheet of material used to catch the wind and move a vessel over waterSail
  • a voyage or trip on a ship or boat; to voyage or travel on a ship or boat
  • to navigate or control a ship
  • to begin a voyage
  • something that resembles a sail (in shape or function)
  • to move along smoothly and rapidly or with confidence

Sale

  • the exchange of goods or property for money
  • an event or period during which goods are sold at reduced prices

My tip: a sale requires money; a sail requires wind.

Sources:

  • Collins English Dictionary
  • Oxford Dictionaries Online

‘Mail’ and ‘male’

Hannah McCall 3 Comments

This week marks a return to homophones. I find that male is occasionally used when mail would be appropriate. I have borrowed one of the definitions below because I don’t think I can explain it more succinctly.

Post boxMail

  • letters and parcels etc. sent by post
  • to send something by post
  • flexible armour made of metal rings, links or plates

Male

  • ‘of or denoting the sex that produces gametes, especially spermatozoa, with which a female may be fertilized or inseminated to produce offspring’ (Oxford Dictionaries)
  • a male person, plant or animal

Mail is also sometimes used as a short form of email. Unfortunately, I don’t have a simple tip to help anyone who might struggle to use mail and male correctly; if you have a suggestion for a memory aid, please share it below!

Sources:

  • Collins English Dictionary
  • Oxford Dictionaries Online

Porraceous

Hannah McCall 5 Comments

LeeksThis week’s interesting word is porraceous. I will buy an imaginary drink for anyone who knows what it means without looking it up – and a bonus imaginary packet of crisps if you have used it in everyday conversation.

Porraceous means ‘resembling a leek’. It is typically used to mean that something is leek-green in colour. (In many cases the something is vomit.)

It is early 17th century in origin, and stems from the Latin word porrāceus (itself from porrum meaning ‘leek’ and āceus meaning ‘of the nature of’).

“Martians, according to general sci-fi ethnobotany, are always small, hydrocephalic, intelligent, and seem a sort of porraceous green.”

– Alexander Theroux, The Secondary Colors, 1996

Isn’t the English language brilliant?

Sources:

  • Oxford Dictionaries Online
  • Oxford English Dictionary Online

‘Despatch’ or ‘dispatch’?

Hannah McCall 2 Comments

This post is a little different from my usual notes on commonly confused words. Some writers worry about whether they should use despatch or dispatch, but this is an easy dilemma to solve – just pick the spelling you prefer. Both forms are legitimate.

Despatch/dispatch

  • Lettersto send off to a destination; the sending of something or someone to a destination
  • to perform or deal with a task or problem quickly and efficiently
  • to kill; the killing of something or someone
  • an official communication or report

Dispatch is the older form and is often preferred for that reason. It is also the form that, according to Fowler’s, is regarded as ‘etymologically more correct’. Despatch is a variant that is usually traced back to Samuel Johnson; his dictionary of 1755 listed the des- form despite Johnson himself always using the dis- form. It is therefore thought that the spelling despatch was originally an error.

However, it is now completely acceptable to use either form – although the use of despatch is often associated with British English.

(But I prefer dispatch.)

Sources:

Obstreperous

Hannah McCall Leave a comment
Seagull

The living embodiment of obstreperousness?

Obstreperous is one of my mum’s favourite words (I am presuming this because of the frequency with which she uses it). She often, however, uses the humorous form obstropolous which most sources list as a regional variation, but its use seems fairly widespread.

Obstreperous means noisy, difficult to control, unruly, bad-tempered or argumentative. (It is often suggested that stroppy came into usage as a slightly altered abbreviation of obstreperous.)

It was first used in the late 16th century and stems from the Latin word obstreperus ‘clamorous’ which is itself from obstrepere ‘to make a noise against’ or ‘oppose noisily’.

You can use obstreperously as an adverb and obstreperousness as a noun.

“Thou abominable obstreperous Scoundrel, why dost thou clamour at us, that do thee no wrong?”

– Plutus: or, The world’s idol. A comedy, translated by Lewis Theobald, 1715

Sources:

‘Colleague’ and ‘college’

Hannah McCall 3 Comments

I sometimes see college used when the writer means colleague. I think this is usually due to a typing error or uncertainty about how to spell colleague. Unfortunately, this is a spelling error that a spellchecker won’t be able to help with.

ColleaguesColleague

  • a person one works with

College

  • an educational institution
  • an organised body within a particular profession

My tip: say the word out loud. You probably wouldn’t spell league as lege.

Anfractuous

Hannah McCall Leave a comment

RocksThis week’s interesting word is anfractuous. It is rare to see it in use, but I think it has a good sound and is fairly evocative.

Anfractuous means winding, sinuous, circuitous or spiral. It can also mean rugged or craggy and fractious or irritable.

Its origin is thought to be late 16th century, from the Latin word anfractus which means ‘a bending’. The meaning of rugged or craggy stems from the French word anfractueux.

“Paint me the bold anfractuous rocks Faced by the snarled and yelping seas.”

– T. S. Eliot, Ara vos prec, 1920

Sources:

  • The Oxford English Dictionary Online
  • Oxford Dictionaries Online

Eucatastrophe

Hannah McCall 2 Comments

This week’s interesting word is said to have been coined by J.R.R. Tolkien, one of my favourite authors.

Woods and fieldsA eucatastrophe is a sudden, favourable resolution of events – or a happy ending. Tolkien described it as “the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears” (1944). There is some debate over the relationship between eucatastrophe and deus ex machina, but the eucatastrophe is a fundamentally optimistic narrative device.

Eucatastrophe was formed by combining eu (a Greek prefix meaning ‘good’) and catastrophe (a change that produces the conclusion of a dramatic work).

Source:

The Oxford English Dictionary (online)

 

‘Half’ and ‘halve’

Hannah McCall 4 Comments

Half and halve are not homophones, but they sound similar and their meanings are closely related.

PearsHalf:

  • either of two equal or corresponding parts that together make up a whole
  • the fraction equal to one divided by two

“I cut the pear in half”

Halve:

  • to divide something into two equal, or nearly equal, parts
  • to reduce by half

“I halved the pear”

My tip is to try to remember that halve is a verb. This advice is slightly complicated by the plural form of half – “I cut the pears into halves” – but the context should help you determine which is appropriate.

‘Nigh’ and ‘nye’

Hannah McCall 8 Comments

Nigh and nye are homophones, and neither is particularly common. I suspect a general audience would be most familiar with nigh. Nigh is considered archaic and literary, but the usage of nye is very limited.

PheasantNigh

  • near
  • close to
  • almost or nearly

Nye

  • a brood (or sometimes flock) of pheasants

My tip: “the end is nigh”.