# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/141 "2014-05-30T22:45:16Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > Can’t remember the last time I’ve heard nauseous used in that way. Hasn’t “nauseating” pretty much replaced that sense of the word? > > Here’s the relevant “Usage Note” from American Heritage Dictionary: > > [American Heritage Dictionary Entry: nauseous](http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=nauseous&submit.x=0&submit.y=0) Oh yeah, folks screw up. **OneCentStamp** - oh yeah; I notice that. How about this? **Comprise** means “to contain.” The word is used at the beginning of the sentence. Example: The house comprises ten rooms and three baths. **Compose** means “to combine, to put something in order or to make up.” The word is used at the end of the sentence. Example: Ten rooms and three baths composes the house. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/142 "2014-05-30T23:38:30Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Here’s one I always have to look up… > i.e. means “in other words” > e.g. means “for example” > > From [here:](http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/ie-versus-eg?page=1) > > Squiggly loves watching old cartoons (e.g., DuckTales and Tugboat Mickey). The words following e.g. are examples, so you know that these are just some of the old cartoons that Squiggly enjoys. > > Squiggly loves watching Donald Duck’s nephews (i.e., Huey, Dewey, and Louie). The words following i.e. provide clarification: they tell you the names of Donald Duck’s three nephews. > > One suggested mnemonic is that e.g. means for EGgsample. Another good mnemonic is that i.e. stands for **I** nstant **E** ducation. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/143 "2014-05-31T01:04:46Z")
**Potable** : safe to drink **Portable:** safe to carry ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/144 "2014-05-31T01:11:03Z")
Courtesy of my professor in music school, Manus Sasonkin (RIP), who used to improvise 4-bar (sorry, _measure_) examples on the board for music theory class: **Ultimate:** the last bar **Penultimate:** the second-to-last bar **Anti-penultimate:** the third-to-last bar **Anti-anti-penultimate:** the _first_ bar ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/145 "2014-05-31T01:13:05Z")
**Oxymoron** : the deliberate apposition of contrasting words, e.g. “Parting is such sweet sorrow”. An oxymoron is a special kind of contradiction in terms, but it most definitely does not mean “contradiction in terms”. Or at least it didn’t until about 15 year ago when a mob of grammatical thugs trampled, besmirched, degraded and pretty well destroyed an elegant word. (Not that I have any strong feelings about this.) ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/146 "2014-05-31T01:15:55Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > **Ultimate:** the last bar > **Penultimate:** the second-to-last bar > **Anti-penultimate:** the third-to-last bar > **Anti-anti-penultimate:** the _first_ bar I think that prefix should be “Ante-”. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/147 "2014-05-31T01:29:23Z")
Mitosis- cell replication for growth and repair in multicellular organisms (also for asexual reproduction in unicellular organisms) Meiosis (pronounced My-Oh-Sis, properly)- Produces gametes for sexual reproduction. Mnemonic to remember the distinction- meiosis involves sexual reproduction, so it’s mei-oh-oh-oh-sis! ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/148 "2014-05-31T01:34:43Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Mnemonic to remember the distinction- meiosis involves sexual reproduction, so it’s mei-oh-oh-oh-sis! Seems a bit incestuous. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![common\_good](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@common\_good](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/common_good)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/149 "2014-06-10T21:08:30Z")
> [@cococ173](#): > > common good: Oriented: to become familiarized to some process or locale > Orientated: to be transformed into something Oriental, like, I don’t know…chopsticks, say > > I thought so, too, untill I looked it up. Synonyms. Thanks. I’m lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/150 "2014-06-10T21:33:58Z")
Momentarily: for a moment In a moment: soon I always want to scream “We’re all gonna die!” when a flight attendant announces “We’ll be departing momentarily.” Affect: to produce a change in something. The tornado affected a lot of people. Effect: the result of something being done or the ability to bring about a result We can effect change by working harder. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/151 "2014-06-10T21:34:39Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > That may be the historical origin, but it hasn’t been used like that in everyday conversation for ages Thats true for most of the entries in this thread. Sometimes you just have to let them peeve themselves out and then give em a juicebox and a blankie. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/152 "2014-06-10T21:57:18Z")
**Marinade** : Noun. A blend of tasty things in which you allow meat or other foods to sit in in order to soak up its yumminess. **Marinate** : Verb. The act of putting food into tasty seasonings. The cannibal chopped up Bobby to marinate in his mango-snakevenom marinade. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/153 "2014-06-10T23:20:43Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Thats true for most of the entries in this thread. Sometimes you just have to let them peeve themselves out and then give em a juicebox and a blankie. Eh, I don’t think all the battles are lost. On the other hand, it’s almost never actually useful to have a word meaning “one tenth of it was destroyed”, so I think we’re better off with the current usage of decimate. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/154 "2014-06-10T23:32:17Z")
> [@Itself](#): > > pixilated: Confused, seduced, or led astray. > pixelated: Of poor enough resolution that individual pixels are visible as boxes in an image. > > . I thought the first one was “pixy-led” i.e. led astray by fairies. The other one is just pixelated mispelled. At least, if people stuck to my idea we’d have far less of this nonsense. Humpf. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/155 "2014-06-11T00:38:15Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > **Its** : possessive form of the pronoun _it_. > **It’s** : contraction of “it is.” or “it has” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/156 "2014-06-11T11:42:41Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > People say “the Internet invented it” as though that somehow invalidates whatever “it” may be, but it is common usage that creates semantic distinctions, and the Internet is where a lot of common usage actually happens these days. It is just as valid, in that regard, as what happens in a rustic tavern or an urbane soirée. It’s not the location, it’s the recency. Rules for what is proper just don’t spring up that quickly. If a distinction was common in 2006, it was likely common for years before that. One would expect there to be other observations of such use. A pattern first discovered in 2006 is unlikely to be well-formed enough by now to form an actual rule, where not following it would be something that not even a large minority of learned speakers would view as a mistake. Now, maybe if it were a neologism, it might make sense that there would be new rules. But that’s because new uses of language grow faster than older ones go away. “Use” and “utilize” are old words. The only way the distinction between use/utilize can make sense is if you can find people making such a distinction rather earlier than 2006 and probably earlier than the Internet. I hope that all made sense. I find it hard to articulate, as it seems so obvious to me. It’s just how descriptivism and prescriptivism interact. Something must be described before it can be prescribed. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/157 "2014-06-11T11:45:51Z")
My contribution to the thread cue: A signal to do something or a stick that forces a white ball to hit other balls. queue: a line or other ordered waiting group I didn’t know the difference between these two words for a lot longer that I like to admit. I think it may have been since I joined this message board. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/158 "2014-06-11T12:16:36Z")
Can anyone explain to me how the word **sanction** seems to have two meanings that are almost exact opposites? There’s **sanction** , verb, in the sense of give official approval to something. _(“This heavyweight bout is sanctioned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission…”)_ Then there’s **sanction** , noun, in the sense of official condemnation or punishment for something. _(“The United States is considering further sanctions against Russia…”)_ ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367/159 "2014-06-11T13:15:00Z")
That speedboat can move! It’s very fast. That speedboat can’t move! It’s tied fast. Preventive medicine is wise. Preventative medicine is self-inflationary hot air. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-your-fellow-dopers-explain-words-that-are-easily-confused/689367.md?page=7)