This list is pure frivolity - or would be, if the practice of debasing the [English] language weren't so widespread, fueled by the explosive accelerant of social media. Good luck, Western World, trying to get that monkey off your lazy back. So, my new honors course: The Demise of Language, 101 Like, enjoy! NOTE: in pairs of words, e.g., xxx v. yyy, the correct form usually is first, followed by the incorrect version(s). BTW, "v." means "versus". Oh yes, "BTW" means "by the way". ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- shades of meaning ----------------- odor, smell, stink, stench, fragrance blatant misuse -------------- [out of an] abundance of precaution (instead of . . . abundance of caution) (spoken by Donald Trump Jr in November 2020, as to why he is self-quarantining after being diagnosed with coronavirus) as best we can v. as best as we can be advised that . . . v. be advise that . . . bow and arrow v. bowing arrow past participle of 'broadcast' is 'broadcast' only in U.S. is 'broadcasted' acceptable; so, 'the show will be broadcasted' is wrong for the King to say (source: dictionary.cambridge.org/ ) calm, cool & collective (instead of calm, cool & collected) heard on news broadcast (person being interviewed), 2022-07-05 cord (e.g., umbilical, nylon, , , , of wood) v. chord (e.g., E major 7th) go out on a whim (instead of go out on a limb) kow-tow v. cow-tie (!) used as a verb, spoken by then-Arizona state politician Kyrsten Sinema in a 2010 speech (seen in 2022) elite ("Bobby Bowden is one of the most elite college football coaches . . ." from: https://www.godtube.com/news/bobby-bowden-quotes-bio-and-top-20-quotes.html ) etc. v. ect. (I use &c. to preserve snobbishness) exacerbated v. exasperated existential (meaning 'extraordinary', 'serious', as in "it could become an existential threat.") median (statistics term) v. medium in memorium (also in memoria) iconic moot point v. mute point nothing is further than the truth (actually spoken in a TV interview by former vice president Mike Pence, 2 July 2023, CBS Sunday Morning) out-of-body experience v. outer body experience overhalls v. overalls palette v. pallet v. palate quashed v. squashed recalcitrant v. recalcitant (heard in narration for TV Biblical story 'documentary', 2024-02-22) remunerated v. renumerated unique (with comparative or superlative, e.g., "the most unique . . .") vanish point v. vantage point (as in "from this vanish point . . .") venturing out v. adventuring out waning v. weaning (the latter used for 'waning' in a TV news caption 2024-01) Conundrum ideas/statements (plus variations and malapropisms) ------------------------------------------------------------- affidavit v. affidavid all of a sudden v. all o' the sudden [or even 'all the sudden'] all you need v. alls you need anecdotal v. antidotal (as in 'antidotal reports', heard today, 2020-03-18, used by a medical doctor, expert on the president's task force to deal with the current viral pandemic) apprised v. appraised basis (singular) v. bases (used for singular) (see also crisis v. crises) beside v. besides careening v. careering casket v. coffin ceremonial v. ceremonious civil war classic v. classical clothes v. clothing complex v. complicated complimentary v. complementary crevice v. crevass crisis (singular) v. crises (used for singular) (see also basis v. bases) crisp v. crispy criterion v. criteria (for singular usage, as in "The most important criteria is . . .") damage (destruction) v. damages (monetary losses) data v. datum (for singular usage) also data ('datta') v. day-ta (pronunciation) de-ligitimize v. de-legitimate (as in, 'He is trying to de-legitimate the election') Democrat v. Democratic (v. democratic) dereliction v. derelection elder (eldest) v. older (oldest) eLECtoral v. elecTORal (and occasionally, incorrectly, 'electorial') emigration v. immigration (emigrant [outgoing] v. immigrant [incoming]) eminent v. imminent v. immanent epilectic v. epileptic equality v. equity ever since v. every since every so often v. ever so often farther v. further forbears v. forbearers gambit v. gamut gauntlet (glove worn by a Mediaeval knight) v. gantlet (flogging ordeal) "throwing down the gauntlet" was a challenge to fight; running the gantlet was to get flogged between two lines of military men (2021-07-28: I had to look it up) the Greek Theatre (Los Angeles, California, USA) isn't really one hallowed v. hollowed (as, 'on this hollowed ground . . .') historic v. historical homogenous v. homogeneous hone in v. horn in human v. humane (similar structure 'moral v. morale' rarely confused!) incidents v. incidences indices v. indexes intravenous v. intravenious intrauterine v. interuterine (the latter is simply incorrect, impossible) ironic v. ironical (cf. Kenneth Clark's use of latter in Civilisation) irregardless v. regardless Islamic v. Islamist It's cold as Hell. on Labor Day (U.S.) most people don't work Lifts to lower levels (UK typical) live v. alive lonely v. lonesome mischievous v. mischevious nauseous v. nauseated Never say never. (variant: Never make a absolute statement. It'll get you into trouble every single time! --CPJones, c.1957) Noël Coward wasn't numeric v. numerical nutritional v. nutritious objective case pronouns: "Grammar is hard for she and I." orient (oneself) v. orientate (oneself) disoriented v. disorientated a party of one peacefully v. peaceably phenomena v. phenomenon (for singular usage) precedent v. precedence premier v. premiere pretty ugly preventive v. preventative processes v. process-EEz proportionally v. proportionately prostate v. prostrate ("He's been suffering from prostrate trouble." "She's lying prostate on the grass.") resilience v. resiliency Robert Young isn't (nor is Andrew). row to hoe v. road to hoe scapegoat v. escapegoat (yes, really!) sleek v. slick speaks (talks) v. speaks out (TV news jargon) St Peter's square isn't. stamp [as with feet] v. stomp statistics v. statistical systemic v. systematic underlying [health conditions] v. underlining [health conditions] uniformly v. uniformally water landing wheel-barrow v. wheel-barrel wreak[ed] havoc v. wreck[ed] havoc (this entry is listed as a spelling difference, though it also sometimes represents a pronunciation difference) pronunciation (pro-noun-ci-a-tion!) and writing [NOTE: differences between countries, e.g., Brit v. Amerikan, are not included here; too easy] ----------------------------------------------- AD-ult v. a-DULT advance tickets available v. advanced tickets available [this was not just pronounced wrong, it was written onscreen in a promo on the morning news (KTLA)] athletes v. ath-a-letes ap-PLIC-a-ble v. APP-lic-a-ble "automatic mode" The fact is, is that . . . (e.g., The fact is, is that no-one is above the law.) It appears as though, that . . . (e.g., It appears as though, that the truth is finally coming out.) . . . the reason being, is . . . (e.g., Congress is dysfunctional, the reason being, is that members are rigidly partisan.) also the use of "actually", "literally", "evidently" and other 'hamburger helper' words AD-dress v. ad-DRESS aks v. ask [in fairness, this variation is a feature of Ebonics, no longer popular to talk about, but still relevant IMHO] all you ever do v. alls you ever do ampitheatre v. amphitheatre anyway[s] aunt (ont) v. aunt (ant) bess-tiality (bestiality) v. beasty-ality boo-kay v. bo-kay (bouquet) BROADway (New York City) v. Broad-Way (the historically correct pronunciation, almost as two words: Broad Way) CarRIBbean v. CaribBEan cavalry v. calvary (the reverse mistake - 'cavalry' when one means 'Calvary' - is NEVER made) cliff v. clift coo-pon (coupon) v. cyoo-pon contacted v. contracted [when used for the meaning of the other, e.g., I contracted the office, or We contacted the virus) could have / would have v. could of / would of (e.g., she could of been a star if she would of had a better agent) counsel v. council counsel (referring to a country's diplomat) v. consul ky-otes (coyotes) v. ky-oh-tees cummerbund v. cumberbun[d] [in the XXIst century, heard only during High School Prom season] day-ta v. datta daylight saving time v. daylight savings time dee-tails v. d'tails divisive: di-VY-sive v. di-VISS-ive domino effect v. dominal effect drowned v. drownded (also drown v. drownd, as in "She might drownd in that river." ecstatic v. estatic either (ee-ther v. eye-ther) and neither (nee-ther v. nye-ther) Empire STATE Building (as if it's state government) v. EMPIRE State Building (a private building named for New York's nickname, "The Empire State") envelope v. ON-velope (v. occasional en-VEL-up) et cetera v. excetera EX-qui-site v. ex-QUIS-ite familiar v. fermiliar February v. Febuary French - incorrect use of gender (feminine form used incorrectly most often; in other words, the feminine form is commonly thought to be the only correct form) masseuse v. masseur fiancée v. fiancé blonde v. blond née v. ne Gesundheit v. Kazoontite girls v. grils (common mistake for school-age kids) got to v. gotta hurricane v. hurric'n v. harricane v. harric'n influentual v. influential inordinate v. inordinant insidious v. insiduous IN-te-gral v. in-TEG-ral int'resting v. in-ter-es-ting [NOTE: I once read a study that correlated the second of these variations - in-ter-es-ting - with lower intelligence, or lower educational level, or something lower; I hope I'm not misrepresenting the study, and I hope I don't have it backwards - int'resting, isn't it?] jaguar v. jag-yu-ar v. jagwire jewelry v. jew-le-ry jubilant v. jubulant (or jubyulant) ju-ve-null (juvenile) v. joo-ve-nyle Ku Klux Klan v. Klu Klux Klan LA-boratory v. la-BOR-atory v. LAB'ratory lackadasical v. laxadasical length v. len'th levers v. leevers lots of v. lotsa markedly [different] v. markably [different] memento(s) v. momento(s) modern v. modren Moss-cow v. Mos-ko [Moscow] mul-tee- v. mul-tye- (e.g., multi-day event) nuclear v. nucular ofTen v. of'en ombudsman v. omsbud[s]man orangutan v. orangutang organ-ih-zation v. organ-eye-zation other v. 'nother (as in "it's a whole 'nother issue") pact v. pac[k] ("the parties signed a pac[k]") particular v. partic'lar perception v. preception percolate v. percyolate perseverance v. perserverance potential v. potentual perspiration v. prespiration picture v. pitchur realtors v. reel-a-tors recognize v. reconize regimen v. regiment roof v. ruhf root v. ruht (rhymes with soot) route: root v. rowt (rhymes with pout) Satan v. Saint-an sem-eye (for semi) v. sem-eee (NOTE: for 18-wheel trucks, it's always "sem-eye" for some reason) siren v. sireen smorgasbord v. schmorgasbord Sophomore v. Southmore statistics v. satistics steen v. styne (as in Bernstein, Feinstein, Einstein [Styne], or Weinstein, Arnstein [Steen]) (person with the name decides pronunciation; "steen" is considered an "Americanization") (background: https://classicalmusicindy.org/how-to-pronounce-my-name/ Leonard Bernstein grew up and began his career as Bern-Steen, but changed his preference as his fame grew - Bern-Styne [the article was written by Michael Silverstein, who seems to prefer Silver-Steen - though this isn't completely clear]) stole v. stold strength v. stren'th string v. shtring surrup [syrup] v. sir-rup subsidiaries v. subsideraries temperature v. temperture theatre [theater] v. thee-AY-ter turpentine v. turpentime ultimatum v. altimatum umBRELLa v. UMbrella (v. umbuRELLa) undermine v. undermined (as in 'they tried to undermined the results') Wimbledon v. Wimbleton women (singular, as in "there was one women in the room") v. woman (this is commonly seen in college-age writing) 'sounds like . . .' ------------------- across v. acrosst (or, perhaps, accrossed) [ant]arctic v. [ant]artic aspersions v. dispersions (as in 'casting dispersions', &c.) curb v. curve (as in "we should try to curve attacks on civilians") effeminate v. effeminant escape(d) v. excape(d) especially v. expecially espresso v. expresso grocery (pronounced: gross'ry) v. groshery [all] intents and purposes v. [all] intensive purposes itinerant v. itinerate laundromat v. laundrymat library v. libary medley v. medelly/medally mistakenly v. mistakingly pundits v. pundints semitic v. semetic/simetic/sametic sprayed or neutered v. spayed or neutered (spoken by Sam Rubin, notorious for malaprops without self-correcting nor correcting by his colleagues), entertainment 'anchor' for KTLA [Channel 5, Los Angeles), in August 2023, when reporting the death of TV personality Bob Barker, who always used the phrase [correctly] in signing off his broadcasts) strickly v. strictly [white] supremacist v. [white] supremist surreptitiously v. serreptitiously surrogate v. serragate surprise v. suprise (surprisingly v. suprisingly) tenets v. tenents uncharted v. unchartered (as in unchartered territory) Valentines v. Valentimes vociferous(ly) v. voiciferous(ly) wingspan v. wingspand intentional joking malapropisms ------------------------------- not necescelery (not necessarily) [with thanks to Benny Hill] ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- collected by Gerald Jones, Ph.D. as a diversion during retirement, while I watch the rest of the world go down the toilet; no copyright intended