Remember those lame Reader’s Digest columns, telling you all about such oh-so-obscure words as “aardvark” and “brunch”?
This is what they should have been telling people:
(NB: this thread is partly recycled from an abortive one in the Pit, which was rapidly overrun by people posting opinions about Japanese cartoons and stuff. Therefore I am sticking strictly to facts here…)
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Wherefore does not mean “where”. Juliet was not asking where Romeo was.
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“Lightening” means “becoming lighter”. That bright flashy stuff you get with thunder is called lightning.
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An oldie but a goodie: it’s should have; could have; would have. Informally, “should’ve” is fine, even “shoulda” might squeak by, but “should of” is just horrid.
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Loose is an adjective, meaning the opposite of tight. Lose is a verb, as in “to lose the will to live”.
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Affect is a verb, meaning to have an effect on something. You can also effect a change, but you can’t feel “affects”.
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It’s a chaise longue, not a “chaise lounge”; it is pronounced “Shayz-long”.
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The word definitely does not contain an “a”.
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It’s per se, not “per say”. It’s Latin, meaning “in itself”.
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While we’re on a Latin vibe: if you, Bob, are signing a letter for Alice in her absence, you sign it “Alice p.p. Bob”, not “Bob p.p. Alice”.
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It’s Daylight Saving Time, not “Daylight Savings Time”.
And I didn’t mention apostrophes once.