|
|
Rank: Divine Rapscallion
Joined: 8/14/2010
Posts: 3,048
Location: On the ragged edge of disaster
|
We are compiling a list of words that are often mistaken for one another in writing. Each pair or group has its own forum thread, with links provided below. This list is in alphabetical order, and word pairs that begin with different letters may be listed twice. It will be updated as more threads are added. These are some of the most troublesome sets. For a fairly comprehensive list of sound-alike words, see Alan Cooper's Homonym List, and for a compilation of myriad mistakes often made in English usage, visit Paul Brians' Common Errors in English Usage. • Areola - Aureole• Because - Cause• Click - Clique• Complement - Compliment• Discreet - Discrete• Further - Farther• Elicit - Illicit• Faze - Phase• Illicit - Elicit• Loose - Lose• Peak - Pique• Phase - Faze• Shutter - Shudder• Their - There - They're• Throes - Throws• To - Too - Two• Your - You're
Maggie Rascal(Please note, I am no longer active on Lush and will not be responding to messages or friend requests.)
|
|
Rank: Active Ink Slinger
Joined: 1/22/2011
Posts: 11
Location: Las Vegas
|
Not really a pair, but the misuse of "myself" when "me" is correct runs rampant in the world. The easy way I remember the correct way to use either one is this: mentally strip away everything but the subject and the verb and use "myself" and then "me" in the sentence or phrase in question - usually the absurdity of the "myself" usage punches you in the nose.
Example from a story on Lush (not picking on anyone, there's plenty everywhere...):
"This story was co-written by X and myself....
That is an incorrect usage of "myself". Most people only get into this pickle when they use "myself" in this kind of tandem pairing - "X and myself".
Strip it down to this: "This story was written by myself" - that should immediately just sound and look wrong to you. The story was written by me.
Try it and see if it helps!
Best of all would be to throw the passive voice under the bus and write it this way: X and I wrote this story. Shorter. Punchier.
|
|
Rank: Active Ink Slinger
Joined: 1/22/2011
Posts: 11
Location: Las Vegas
|
Pail - Pale
and not the whitish color. The frequent misuse is in the phrase "beyond the pale" (correct) - "beyond the pail" (incorrect - that's just the other side of a bucket).
|
|
Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
|
I just read a word I've never heard.
"mephitic" Adjective: (esp. of a gas or vapor) Foul-smelling; noxious. It's not on Lush, it's on another site and the author is using clinic terms for every body part and function. It's a tad jarring, "meatus," "emission," "frenulum," so on. I like to use some of those words but all and only them is jarring. Funny.
|
|
Rank: Divine Rapscallion
Joined: 8/14/2010
Posts: 3,048
Location: On the ragged edge of disaster
|
Thanks for all the great suggestions. I'll find a few minutes to update the list...someday!
Maggie Rascal
(Please note, I am no longer active on Lush and will not be responding to messages or friend requests.)
|
|
Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
|
my pet peeve is using "good" and "well" correctly
"wow you write really well" not "you write really good"
"your dinner tasted good" not "your dinner tasted well"
generally speaking, things taste "good" and you do things "well"
|
|
Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
|
ok so i was reading The Devil's Punch Bowl by greg iles and the sentence was "I want you to come in my mouth tonight".
so now i'm wondering...is it come or cum?
|
|
 
Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 2/24/2010
Posts: 2,667
Location: Ohio
|
Here you go miss little;
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
Cum can mean different things:
Cum is a slang term for semen
The verb form cum is a slang term for the act of ejaculation, or for having an orgasm
Cum or "Kum" is a Russian word that means "godfather of one's child" or "father of one's godchild".
Cum is a Latin word meaning "with" and is often used in academic Latin honors, such a cum laude meaning "with distinction". The modern Spanish con is a corruption of the Latin original.
Hope this helps with this dilemma.
I'm off to go and blow some cellulite insulation in my attic now,
next to the chimmily,,east of the ashfault drive ways
|
|
Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 12/6/2009
Posts: 3,600
Location: Hanging around, Glasgow, United Kingdom
|
Then/than. That drives me up the wall and it spoils a perfectly good story. When comparing one thing with another you may find that one is more appealing “than” another. “Than” is the word you want when doing comparisons. But if you are talking about time, choose “then“: “First you separate the eggs; then you beat the whites.” Alexis is smarter than I, not “then I.” I'm glad I found this topic, because I've been wanting to rant about this for a while, what can I say, I'm pedantic!
|
|
Rank: Divine Rapscallion
Joined: 8/14/2010
Posts: 3,048
Location: On the ragged edge of disaster
|
UPDATE: All the suggestions have been noted and an update to the list is in the works. Thanks again for all the great ideas!
Maggie Rascal
(Please note, I am no longer active on Lush and will not be responding to messages or friend requests.)
|
|
Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
|
I want to recommend Judy Parkinson: i before e except after c and also My Grammar and I or should that be me: By Caroline Taggart and J. A. Wines.
These books are full of funny English rhymes that I remember as a child when I was growing up, either said by teacher's or family.
I hope you look them up as they are good.
|
|
Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 11/22/2010
Posts: 103
|
masterbation rather than masturbation! Drives me nuts! ( The spelling not the act!! ;)
|
|
Rank: Purveyor of Poetry & Porn
Joined: 10/19/2009
Posts: 5,361
Location: Right here on Lush Stories...
|
Penis and Pianist...very commonly confused words... I hate when that happens because I never know whether the girl is playing with a piano or an organ... 
 You know you want it, you know you need it bad...get it now on Amazon.com...Lush Erotica, an Anthology of Award Winning Sex Stories
|
|
Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 3/21/2011
Posts: 295
Location: United States
|
Then and than That one gets even me.
If you can't fuck yourself ... who can you fuck?
|
|
Rank: Author
Joined: 10/22/2011
Posts: 2,005
Location: Expat in, Russia
|
Thanks for the listing, I had the areolae misspelled. I have now re-edited my latest story and updated my dictionary. Another is breast - breasts But I have other words I still question, "pre-cum". Is that right?
|
|
Rank: Matriarch
Joined: 12/6/2006
Posts: 22,418
Location: Sydney, Australia
|
"Pre-cum" is correct. 
|
|
Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
|
My pet peeve is saying 'of' instead of 'have' - for instance 'I should of' should be 'I should have'
|
|
Rank: The Linebacker
Joined: 3/2/2011
Posts: 3,307
Location: Atlanta, United States
|
If I misspell something it is most likely because I am dyslexic. If you message me about it I would like to go back and correct that. Even though I am dyslexic I notice a lot of misspellings, typos and incorrect grammar in stories. (I had to edit the hell out of the above 2 lines of text before posting.) Really! HA
Please check out my newest story: "10 Items Or Less"http://www.lushstories.com/stories/milf/10-items-or-less.aspxOr my previous story: http://www.lushstories.com/stories/straight-sex/in-the-land-of-salvation-and-sin.aspx
|
|
Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 4/23/2011
Posts: 2,165
|
LittleMissBitch wrote:my pet peeve is using "good" and "well" correctly
"wow you write really well" not "you write really good"
"your dinner tasted good" not "your dinner tasted well"
generally speaking, things taste "good" and you do things "well"
and the proper response to "how are you?" is NOT "I am good." You may say, I am well, thank you", or "I am fine" - now, if they ask, "How are you in bed?", then it is perectly acceptable to say, "I am good." even if it IS a lie) LOL @ magnificent1rascal - here are some more pairs for the list : accept - except affect - effect cue - queue
"There's only three tempos: slow, medium and fast. When you get between in the cracks, ain't nuthin' happenin'." Ben Webster
|
|
Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
|
Another pair for the list, because I always get them muddled up:
Know and now
|
|
Rank: Purveyor of Poetry & Porn
Joined: 10/19/2009
Posts: 5,361
Location: Right here on Lush Stories...
|
magnificent1rascal wrote: Is it my imagination Ms Rascal, or did you repeat Phase and Faze? You know, changing the order does not make them two separate sets of words...I know this thread implies that we get things confused, but I don't think we're that easily confused... 
You know you want it, you know you need it bad...get it now on Amazon.com...Lush Erotica, an Anthology of Award Winning Sex Stories
|
|
Rank: Divine Rapscallion
Joined: 8/14/2010
Posts: 3,048
Location: On the ragged edge of disaster
|
DirtyMartini wrote:Is it my imagination Ms Rascal, or did you repeat Phase and Faze? You know, changing the order does not make them two separate sets of words...I know this thread implies that we get things confused, but I don't think we're that easily confused... No, it is not your imagination. Yes, I did repeat the pairing, and yes, it was done intentionally. It is a single set of words, cross-referenced alphabetically under the first letters of both spellings. It's common practice in guides such as this when the words in a set begin with different letters. Elicit and Illicit are listed in two separate places as well.
Maggie Rascal(Please note, I am no longer active on Lush and will not be responding to messages or friend requests.)
|
|
Rank: Lurker
Joined: 11/30/2006
Posts: 327,286
|
then and than
|
|
Rank: Purveyor of Poetry & Porn
Joined: 10/19/2009
Posts: 5,361
Location: Right here on Lush Stories...
|
magnificent1rascal wrote:
It's common practice in guides such as this when the words in a set begin with different letters. Elicit and Illicit are listed in two separate places as well.
I didn't know all that...I thought you were just trying to confuse me... Maybe we should have a thread "Commonly Confused Lush Members"...then again, maybe not...
You know you want it, you know you need it bad...get it now on Amazon.com...Lush Erotica, an Anthology of Award Winning Sex Stories
|
|
Rank: Constant Gardener
Joined: 9/30/2009
Posts: 9,523
Location: Cakeland, United States
|
This has been one of my favorite flame-war threads, since I stumbled across it, over five years ago. Ongoing discussion of the proper spelling of the words oriented and orientated... Aluminum and aluminium. The ever morphing English language really trips people out.  It could easily fit in Nicola's recent thread concerning funny commentary.
 The best thing you can do for your fellow,
next to rousing his conscience, is - not to give him things
to think about, but to wake things up that are in him...
to make him think things for himself - George MacDonald
|
|
Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 12/6/2009
Posts: 3,600
Location: Hanging around, Glasgow, United Kingdom
|
Of/off - drives me nuts to see that a man had been sucked of instead of off, for example. Woman/women - this one I've been seeing quite frequently on here, in the forums mostly. It drives me nuts to see people referring to what should be a singular as a plural. Get it right: Woman = singular, women = plural, grr.
|
|
Rank: Matriarch
Joined: 12/6/2006
Posts: 22,418
Location: Sydney, Australia
|
Gurlyboy wrote:Of/off - drives me nuts to see that a man had been sucked of instead of off, for example.
Woman/women - this one I've been seeing quite frequently on here, in the forums mostly. It drives me nuts to see people referring to what should be a singular as a plural. Get it right: Woman = singular, women = plural, grr. You wouldn't believe how much thread correcting goes on behind the scenes... "I find it a bit of when a women is on her period, who about you?"
|
|
Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 12/6/2009
Posts: 3,600
Location: Hanging around, Glasgow, United Kingdom
|
nicola wrote:
You wouldn't believe how much thread correcting goes on behind the scenes...
"I find it a bit of when a women is on her period, who about you?"
Yeah, it must get tiring trying to correct silly mistakes like that. You'd think people would proofread their stuff, but I'm pretty pedantic, so I'll proofread everything, even forum posts.
|
|
Rank: Rookie Scribe
Joined: 2/1/2012
Posts: 2
Location: United Kingdom
|
As a British, native English speaker and English graduate, I am so happy to have found this forum and this paticular topic.
I admit that I am annoyingly pedantic, particularly when it comes to such as the mixing of "then" when it should be "than", the confusing of "there, "their" and "they're", "to" and "too" and the horrendous use of "of" instead of "have".
Some of these appear to be more used in American English, and some are more frequently in British use.
Oh, and I am completely with Gurlyboy. I also proofread everything. Sad, aren't we?
|
|
Rank: Purveyor of Poetry & Porn
Joined: 10/19/2009
Posts: 5,361
Location: Right here on Lush Stories...
|
Just saying... 
You know you want it, you know you need it bad...get it now on Amazon.com...Lush Erotica, an Anthology of Award Winning Sex Stories
|
|
|
Guest |