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Confusing pairs of words...

2

Comments

  • #32
    bonzodog2
    Registered Users Posts: 6,210 ✭✭✭bonzodog2


    Frequently misused on these forums:
    Taught when they meant thought
    Breaks when they meant brakes


  • #33
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    bonzodog2 wrote: »
    Frequently misused on these forums:
    Taught when they meant thought
    Breaks when they meant brakes

    No problem with the first pair but always have to think twice about the second. I know they can both be verbs or nouns but I want to break (verb) when I use the brakes (noun) when in fact thats wrong unless I was damaging the brakes by breaking them.


  • #34
    SmartinMartin
    Registered Users Posts: 2,937 ✭✭✭SmartinMartin


    Lose/loose
    plurals/plural's


  • #35
    Speedwell
    Registered Users Posts: 3,809 ✭✭✭Speedwell


    Ooh, I like "incident/incidence". "Incidences" is an actual legit word, but it probably wasn't being used correctly. As far as I know:

    "We had an incident in the school in which a child got food poisoning from the school lunch, although we have had fewer such incidents this school year than last year. The overall incidence of food poisoning at our school has declined. However, the incidences of food poisoning at the other five district schools have increased."

    http://www.gingersoftware.com/english-online/spelling-book/confusing-words/incidence-incidents


  • #36
    bonzodog2
    Registered Users Posts: 6,210 ✭✭✭bonzodog2


    Principal/Principle


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  • #37
    Roselm
    Registered Users Posts: 753 ✭✭✭Roselm


    bonzodog2 wrote: »
    Frequently misused on these forums:
    Taught when they meant thought
    Breaks when they meant brakes

    ...and worn "threads" on tyres rather than "treads" :(


  • #38
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    Knew and new, I doubt there is much confusion but if other peoples errors are made for the same reasons mine are made then the problem is in the brain thinking faster then the fingers can type. Only fix is a read through before posting.


  • #39
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,041 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    bonzodog2 wrote: »
    Principal/Principle

    Easy reminder for this - the Principal may be your pal.


  • #40
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    looksee wrote: »
    Easy reminder for this - the Principal may be your pal.

    But on principle I have to point out that it could be the principal on which interest is paid.


  • #41
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,418 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    One that always makes me laugh is huge / hugh. Also (rather ironically) college / collage.


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  • #42
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,041 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    my3cents wrote: »
    But on principle I have to point out that it could be the principal on which interest is paid.

    Um, yes, didn't think of that!


  • #43
    Bob24
    Registered Users Posts: 10,905 ✭✭✭✭Bob24


    Won't confuse native speakers but lots of potential to confuse non-natives and get them to say something which makes everyone uncomfortable: rapist / rapper.


  • #44
    miamee
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Regional East Moderators, Regional North West Moderators Posts: 11,989 Mod ✭✭✭✭miamee


    reign / rein

    I still have to stop and think about which is which so I'm not including a sentence :D


  • #45
    thejaguar
    Registered Users Posts: 730 ✭✭✭thejaguar


    SmartinMartin wrote: »
    Lose/loose

    This drives me nuts

    ...and 'would of/should of/could of' instead of 'would have/could have/should have'....


  • #46
    PaddyWilliams
    Registered Users Posts: 1,121 ✭✭✭PaddyWilliams


    No/Know.. How many times have I seen people typing back an answer to a question as 'I no'.


  • #47
    PaddyWilliams
    Registered Users Posts: 1,121 ✭✭✭PaddyWilliams


    thejaguar wrote: »
    This drives me nuts

    ...and 'would of/should of/could of' instead of 'would have/could have/should have'....

    Woulda / Coulda / Shoulda ?


  • #48
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    Alun wrote: »
    One that always makes me laugh is huge / hugh. Also (rather ironically) college / collage.

    It would be interesting to know how some of these creep in and how they relate to the users schooling? In the case of huge and hugh (brings to mind hue and hew) you can see that in the context of posting online that the user can't be using a spell checker because hugh would be flagged as needing a capitol H (unless it was at the start of a sentence).

    College and collage wouldn't show up as a spelling error but for someone who was taught to spell phonically can't really be mistaken. Phonetic spelling has its downside as if I didn't know better I'd be spelling college colledge :rolleyes:

    Going back to hue and hew you can also add in Hue and Hugh which all sound the same; I know of at least one person that spells Hugh Hue.


  • #49
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    Then there are some triplets, like by, buy and bye. Not forgetting a bye in cricket.

    You could buy a ticket so see a bye at cricket :o


  • #50
    Mearings
    Registered Users Posts: 557 ✭✭✭Mearings


    my3cents wrote: »
    Then there are some triplets, like by, buy and bye. Not forgetting a bye in cricket.

    You could buy a ticket so see a bye at cricket :o
    Btw.


  • #51
    bonzodog2
    Registered Users Posts: 6,210 ✭✭✭bonzodog2


    Spotted in the wild just recently on boards:
    Viscous/vicious
    Defiantly/definitely


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  • #52
    FishOnABike
    Registered Users Posts: 4,348 ✭✭✭FishOnABike


    Capital and capitol


  • #53
    Speedwell
    Registered Users Posts: 3,809 ✭✭✭Speedwell


    FishOnABike wrote: »
    Capital and capitol

    I use the two words correctly, and once I looked at them I guessed exactly why they were different, but I realized I never actually consciously noticed the difference before. Weird.

    Here's one. When I was a child growing up in America, I used to use the old-fashioned word "baloney" to refer to what I would, as an adult, simply call "bullsh!t". It was also what we always called the mortadella sausage that we commonly put in sandwiches. I thought that the sort-of-flabby, homogeneous, pink slices were called that because they somewhat resembled the tongue, and a too-loose tongue was what made people talk nonsense.

    I knew "baloney" in my sandwich was really spelled "Bologna" like the Italian town, but since I also knew the word "mortadella", it didn't immediately occur to me that the real name was "Bologna sausage". And it took even more time for me to realize that the word as used to mean "you're talking nonsense" was really derived from "blarney".


  • #54
    monkeynuz
    Registered Users Posts: 2,115 ✭✭✭monkeynuz


    Bought/brought
    Wonder/wander
    Stationary/stationery


  • #55
    mansize
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,521 ✭✭✭✭mansize


    Excepted/accepted

    I don't have an issue but if I use excepted many question it


  • #56
    Speedwell
    Registered Users Posts: 3,809 ✭✭✭Speedwell


    mansize wrote: »
    Excepted/accepted

    I don't have an issue but if I use excepted many question it

    They take exception, rather than accepting it. Just so :)


  • #57
    mansize
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,521 ✭✭✭✭mansize


    Speedwell wrote: »
    They take exception, rather than accepting it. Just so :)

    I like


  • #58
    Speedwell
    Registered Users Posts: 3,809 ✭✭✭Speedwell


    my3cents wrote: »
    Going back to hue and hew you can also add in Hue and Hugh which all sound the same; I know of at least one person that spells Hugh Hue.

    That person wouldn't happen to be Vietnamese? In that language it is a name meaning "intelligence" or "lily/orchid".


  • #59
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    Speedwell wrote: »
    That person wouldn't happen to be Vietnamese? In that language it is a name meaning "intelligence" or "lily/orchid".

    No I just think either they or their parents were being trendy, might even have been a nickname. A neighbor is called Nigel by everyone I know but that isn't his name and never has been but there is some long family story I've never really understood that's supposed to explain it :confused:Even my own given name gets shortened and spelt differently by members of my own family :rolleyes:

    If we've not had them already a pair, well in sound anyway, that get confused around here, your and your're.

    I've this theory that Google is likely to become the arbiter of spelling in years to come. I have just used the word spelt which Googles spell check doesn't know but the word is spelt or spelled and used correctly, however over time I wonder if spellings not "approved" by Google will fall into disuse? Similarly if the spell check doesn't spot the difference in your and you're (because from a spelling point of view both words are spelt correctly) will your come to be an accepted alternative and you're be dropped from use altogether?


  • #60
    Speedwell
    Registered Users Posts: 3,809 ✭✭✭Speedwell


    my3cents wrote: »
    I've this theory that Google is likely to become the arbiter of spelling in years to come. I have just used the word spelt which Googles spell check doesn't know but the word is spelt or spelled and used correctly, however over time I wonder if spellings not "approved" by Google will fall into disuse? Similarly if the spell check doesn't spot the difference in your and you're (because from a spelling point of view both words are spelt correctly) will your come to be an accepted alternative and you're be dropped from use altogether?

    Spelt is not a word that has fallen out of use; it is (at least) the name of a grain. Google and other spellcheckers are at best minor annoyances to me. I worked as a proofreader back in the day and an engineer manual writer more recently, and I have always found them to cause more problems than they solve. I spend an extraordinary time trying to teach them that this word or that is actually not misspelled.


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  • #61
    bonzodog2
    Registered Users Posts: 6,210 ✭✭✭bonzodog2


    Yolk/yoke
    Casual/causal


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