# Educate Your Fellow Dopers: Explain Words That Are Easily Confused **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 27, 2014, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367 "2014-05-27T13:34:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cococ173](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@cococ173](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cococ173)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/21 "2014-05-27T22:31:20Z")
Lend is a verb. Loan is a noun. You lend someone money. That money is a loan. BTW, Disneyland is not in Los Angeles. It is in Anaheim, Ca. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/22 "2014-05-27T22:54:54Z")
\*\*Brake: \*\*A device for stopping something from moving, or slowing it down \*\*Break: \*\*(v)To divide into pieces, (n)a gap or crack in an object, or an interruption in a period of time ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/23 "2014-05-27T22:59:25Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > **Torturous** : in the manner of torture. > **Tortuous** : twisting and winding. > … And a third one: **Tortious** : having the nature of a [civil tort](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tort). E.g. “His acts in restraint of trade are so tortious!” ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/24 "2014-05-27T23:02:34Z")
**Emigrate** : (v) To leave a country indefinitely in order to settle in another. **Immigrate** : (v) To enter and settle in a country indefinitely. E.g.: “My ancestor, Olaf Jansen, emigrated from Sweden in 1885 with intent to immigrate to Canada. He didn’t like it there so he decided to immigrate to the United States instead, settling in Key West.” ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/25 "2014-05-27T23:05:16Z")
A lot: many Alot: fracture of the skull caused by me beating you over the head with a space bar. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/26 "2014-05-27T23:08:13Z")
**Cannot:** It is impossible for a thing to happen (Penguins cannot fly) **May not:** Something in prohibited (Customers may not consume their own food on these premises) ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/27 "2014-05-27T23:08:59Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > **Torturous** : in the manner of torture. > **Tortuous** : twisting and winding. > > **Enormous** : very large. > **Enormity** : a terrible thing. > > **Casualness** : being informal. > **Casualty** : death from a military campaign, or by extension, losses connected to any project that is supposed to provide a net gain. > > **Raising the question** : mentioning or suggesting an obvious, or the next logical question in an exchange. > **Begging the question** : predicating your premise upon your conclusion, or two assumptions upon one another. > > **Suffering** : undergoing physical pain or emotional anguish. > **Suffrage** : the right to vote in a democracy. **Enormity** can also be a noun referring to the scale or size of a perceived bad thing. So I can see the confusion. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/28 "2014-05-27T23:12:14Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > podium–a platform of some kind, say for an orchestra conductor or Olympic medal winners > > lectern–a thing you stand behind to give a speech, often with a little light and a place for your script/notes etc. Can be situated on a podium > > “podium” in common usage has come to mean either one of these things. It really irritates me when it’s used for the latter. Lacks precision. You could use “dais” for the raised platform and “lectern” for the stand. There, much less ambiguity. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/29 "2014-05-27T23:14:14Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > A lot: many > > Alot: fracture of the skull caused by me beating you over the head with a space bar. Ask: (v) To make an inquiry Ax: (n) What you’re going to get hit with if you don’t stop “axing” questions. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/30 "2014-05-27T23:14:56Z")
Compliment: An expression of admiration or praise Complement: Something which goes well with another thing (often so as to make it complete) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/31 "2014-05-27T23:17:13Z")
**Pain (or other sensory) threshold:** the amount of a given stimulus that someone can detect reliably (often 50% of the time in psychological experiments). That usually only takes a very low amount of input. **Tolerance:** The ability to withstand (tolerate) such a stimulus well beyond the point where it is first noticed. These terms are commonly confused even among educated people. Claiming that you have a high ‘pain threshold’ doesn’t mean much and is almost never an accurate expression for the desired idea. Most people can feel pain well before they submit to it. The real term that people are aiming for is ‘I have a high pain tolerance’. That means that you recognize pain but override the desire to react to it through willpower longer than most people. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/32 "2014-05-27T23:17:14Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > Alot: fracture of the skull caused by me beating you over the head with a space bar. [Obligatory “Hyperbole and a Half” link](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html) (which, I was glad to see, was the first thing that came up when I googled “alot”). ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/33 "2014-05-27T23:29:17Z")
> [@cococ173](#): > > BTW, Disneyland is not in Los Angeles. It is in Anaheim, Ca. 🙂 To be fair, **HeyHomie** said, “outside of Los Angeles.” [QUOTE=HeyHomie] HINT: Here’s a little mnemonic to help you: The word “World” has an O, an R, an L and a D, just like “Florida.” [/QUOTE] Or even more like “ **Orl** an **d** o” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/34 "2014-05-27T23:47:32Z")
**New England** = the totality of six states - Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. It is no more and no less than that and never has been. No part of New York state is part of New England nor is any other U.S. state or Canadian province even though parts of some of them may share some characteristics with it. **The Ivy League** = exactly 8 private, northeastern universities that are all prestigious but not necessarily the best in all or even most fields. It is fundamentally a sports league. The total list is Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania. That is all there ever has been and all there will ever be. There are no colleges or universities that were offered admission and declined it nor are there any schools in the West, Midwest, South or Southwest that are considered honorary members. There are schools at least as prestigious as the Ivy League schools that are not in the conference (MIT and Stanford are just two examples). ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/35 "2014-05-27T23:57:42Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > **Casualty** : death from a military campaign, or by extension, losses connected to any project that is supposed to provide a net gain. **NO**. Both injuries and fatalities are [casualties](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/casualty). That’s one I find very aggravating because misusing that can completely change the meaning of a casualty count. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/36 "2014-05-28T00:01:00Z")
**State Capital:** The city wherein has been designated the seat of a state government. **State Capitol:** A building in that city, where the legislative branch of that government meets. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/37 "2014-05-28T00:04:30Z")
cavalry: a branch of the military, was horses now tanks Calvary: hill where Jesus was crucified Pet peeve: S a way to make a noun plural boy, boys Z last letter of the alphabet boy, boyz (no such thing) ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/38 "2014-05-28T00:28:38Z")
**Cleave** - To cling to **Cleave** - To break from 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/39 "2014-05-28T00:31:57Z")
Cars: Plural form of car Car’s: Belongs to the car or a contraction of “Car is”. Not the plural form of car. Lose: To not win, as in Michigan will lose to Nebraska Loose: Not tight, as in my pants are loose Principal: leader of a school or as an adjective to describe something as primary Principle: a belief or code ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/40 "2014-05-28T00:32:22Z")
> [@Lord\_Mondegreen](#): > > Or even more like “ **Orl** an **d** o” 😉 Yes, but the mnemonic works because it references each resort’s home state. Throwing cities into the mix just confuses things. For one, ORLANDO has an O,R,L and D like “World,” it also has an L,A,N and D, like, uh, “Land.” For another, Anaheim doesn’t really work for this mnemonic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367.md?page=3)