Come round my gaffe • 1 February 2009 • The SnowBlog
Come round my gaffe
After my shameful misuse of the word 'enormity' the other day, I got to thinking about other words which I commonly misuse unless I consciously think about them. I know that language evolves an' all that, but I still want to know the rules so I can break them knowingly rather than in ignorance.
So here's my little refresher. Do add more! 'Like' rather than 'such as'
'Disinterested' (impartial) and 'uninterested' (not interested).
'Aggravate' ( to make worse) and the verb 'irritate' (to annoy.)
"Discreet" (tactful self-restraint) and "discrete" (separate)
There's a whole bunch of other ones here. Thankfully my grasp of English is good enough to know most of them. They're quite fun to read, in a way!
Emma
After my shameful misuse of the word 'enormity' the other day, I got to thinking about other words which I commonly misuse unless I consciously think about them. I know that language evolves an' all that, but I still want to know the rules so I can break them knowingly rather than in ignorance.
So here's my little refresher. Do add more! 'Like' rather than 'such as'
'Disinterested' (impartial) and 'uninterested' (not interested).
'Aggravate' ( to make worse) and the verb 'irritate' (to annoy.)
"Discreet" (tactful self-restraint) and "discrete" (separate)
There's a whole bunch of other ones here. Thankfully my grasp of English is good enough to know most of them. They're quite fun to read, in a way!