# Let's list often confused terms **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 15, 2011, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762 "2011-08-15T06:03:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/61 "2011-08-17T15:45:58Z")
> [@Lare](#): > > Nauseous and nauseated. > > Came across the best definition in Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. > > Now I can’t help but make the distinction when watching TV where I find that the overuse of nauseous is more accurate than the writers intended. This is very dated, IMO. People who know the distinction might use nauseated correctly, as in “I felt nauseated by the roller coaster.” But when have you ever, ever heard someone use nauseous as “nausea inducing?” “I found that meal quite nauseous. We shall have to execute the cook, dear,” said Colonel Mustard, as he adjusted his monocle. No, sorry. It’s bullshit. That battle was lost long ago. Also, a lot of Strunk and White is crap, and not even grammarians of the time agreed on what went into their Elements of Style, from what I understand. ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/62 "2011-08-17T19:06:58Z")
And what makes you think I don’t wear a monocle? It may be dated, but that doesn’t make it wrong. And my reference to Strunk and White was my reflection of being amused by the way they differentiated between the two. So, IYO it’s dated and IMO it’s a constant source of amusement. I’m not too uptight about this one, but don’t get me going about “rappel” and “repel” any further. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/63 "2011-08-17T19:19:32Z")
I’ve tried to swear off being a grammar Nazi, and am doing OK, but for some reason my blood pressure still rises every time someone writes about a hoard of troops attacking (or, less often, a horde of treasure). > [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > You would much prefer that an objective jury preside over your embezzlement trial than a subjective one. Well, now, that depends on a few things, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/64 "2011-08-17T20:10:29Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > No, it can’t. Sure it can! Just don’t use any fertilizers and pesticides on your water trees. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/65 "2011-08-17T22:29:35Z")
Belated thanks for the replies on “rediculuos”. One more I just thought of is “begs the question”, with the actual meaning being: > [@](#): > > …arguing for a conclusion that has already been assumed in the premise, [with] this fallacy [consisting] of “begging” the listener to accept the “question” (proposition) before the labor of logic is undertaken (from Wikipedia) …but the more common, and incorrect usage being “that point raises an additional question”. > **[Begging the question](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beg_the_question)** > > In classical rhetoric and logic, begging the question or assuming the conclusion (Latin: petītiō principiī) is an informal fallacy that occurs when an argument's premises assume the truth of the conclusion. Historically, begging the question refers to a fault in a dialectical argument in which the speaker assumes some premise that has not been demonstrated to be true. In modern usage, it has come to refer to an argument in which the premises assume the conclusion without supporting it. This mak... Unfortunately, I think that getting people to use this term correctly is also a lost cause. The correct usage can be a bit hard to grasp and difficult to remember, while the incorrect usage seems more like the literal meaning of the phrase. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/66 "2011-08-17T22:58:47Z")
Nobody’s mentioned confrom v confirm, or (more commonly) conformation/confirmation. Also discrete and discreet. Healthy v healthful. Although that one’s probably another lost cause. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/67 "2011-08-17T23:46:53Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > IMHO, the auto-correcting of “its” to “it’s” is actually really convenient - it saves two keystrokes on a word that is in about every other sentence, as opposed to its (heh) much less common pronoun brother. You just need to make sure to “x” the suggestion when you really do want to spell “its”. Just one long one actually. Try holding down the comma key and see what you get. Some more: You home in on something, not hone in on it. JK Rowling made this mistake in “The Deathly Hallows”. An anxious person is on tenterhooks, not tenderhooks. An oak tree grows from an acorn, not an eggcorn, though eggcorn is the proper term for the word “eggcorn” and many other examples from this thread. 🙂 Speaking of eggcorns, there was also a thread here a month or two ago about how catercorner had progressed to cattycorner and then kittycorner (playing on cat). ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/68 "2011-08-17T23:51:34Z")
Looks like your government (probably ours too) is trying to change the meaning of the word [narcotic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcotic) - “When used in a legal context in the US, a narcotic drug is simply one that is totally prohibited, or one that is used in violation of strict governmental regulation, such as PCP or marijuana.” OK… Calling something like crystal meth (pretty sure that’s “totally prohibited” isn’t it?) a “narcotic” is about as far from the original definition as you can get. I wonder how that works when police ask someone if they have any narcotics in their car. The owner wouldn’t be lying (according to the traditional meaning) if they said “no” even if their trunk was packed solid with packages of coke. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/69 "2011-08-17T23:55:57Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > Speaking of eggcorns, there was also a thread here a month or two ago about how catercorner had progressed to cattycorner and then kittycorner (playing on cat). Not saying one or other is wrong, but I have only ever used kittycorner my entire life (I’m 57) and only occasionally heard the other variants (although I see that the Firefox spell check only likes catercorner). So, IMHO it’s not a recent change. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/70 "2011-08-18T01:08:30Z")
As far as I can tell, the “folk etymology” change of catercorner to cattycorner started almost as soon as catercorner took on the meaning of “diagonally across from” (i.e., way more than 57 years ago). I’m less sure about kittycorner. It seems to me that someone must have been making a joke on the “cat” part of the word, but it caught on and people gradually forgot about it being a joke. I don’t have any evidence to support that theory though. 🙂 It seems sure that: 1. The original word was catercorner 2. This is still the primary spelling in most (all?) dictionaries 3. Cattycorner and kittycorner are more popular today ---
**Author:** ![Bannedit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Bannedit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bannedit)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/71 "2011-08-18T01:11:10Z")
Material and materiel. No matter how many times I read the definitions I can’t figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/72 "2011-08-18T08:57:39Z")
Viola and Voila! (\<-- also known as Wallah!) I hate it when spellcheck decides a word is ‘preform’ and not ‘perform’. Viscous and vicious. viscous is having a thick consistency, like oil, and vicious is like a dog gnawing on a bone. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/73 "2011-08-18T17:52:00Z")
Wreck and Wreak. “Wreck havoc” makes me want to strangle. . ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/74 "2011-08-18T17:59:11Z")
> [@Suil\_Dubh](#): > > Belated thanks for the replies on “rediculuos”. > > One more I just thought of is “begs the question”, with the actual meaning being: > > …but the more common, and incorrect usage being “that point raises an additional question”. > > [Begging the question - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beg_the_question) > > Unfortunately, I think that getting people to use this term correctly is also a lost cause. The correct usage can be a bit hard to grasp and difficult to remember, while the incorrect usage seems more like the literal meaning of the phrase. Just the other night I saw someone in a news story, trying to sound reporter-ish, say “…it beggars the question…” . ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/75 "2011-08-18T18:03:58Z")
Tact and Tacky. Heinous and (your royal) Highness. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/76 "2011-08-18T19:05:02Z")
Oh, how could I forget? Cache and cachet. I’m working with a product called Cache, but pronounced cachet. They spell it Caché to make it seem right. ---
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/77 "2011-08-18T19:25:25Z")
Thanks for mentioning me and myself. Someone’s teacher should have been fired for telling kids it is wrong to use “me” in any context. Leads to “myself” being misused way too much. Personally I get exasperated when someone talks about exasperating a situation. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/78 "2011-08-18T20:26:46Z")
How about rogue vs. rouge? Rogue means somebody who is out of control. Rouge (which is simply the French word for ‘red’) is reddish makeup. Spy stuff conceals cameras, weapons, etc. in things like powder compacts and lipstick cases. So I guess that makes sense of those “rouge CIA agents” you always hear about. > [@Suil\_Dubh](#): > > IDoes anyone know what’s the straight dope with the incorrect spelling “rediculous”? I see this all the time now on the Internet instead of the correct “ridiculous”. > > Is this a meme, or some kind of ironic spelling? I can’t understand why people would be making the same simple mistake so frequently, when spell-checking software is so common. Well, there was a transsexual who got a vaginoplasty operation, but later changed her mind and transitioned back to male and got a phalloplasty. That was literally rediculous. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/79 "2011-08-18T20:52:19Z")
Fortuitous vs. fortunate. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762/80 "2011-08-18T21:30:13Z")
Chaise longue is French for ‘long chair’. It has nothing to do with lounges. Trust me on this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-list-often-confused-terms/592762.md?page=5)