# Words one can get confused **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 18, 2022, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772 "2022-09-18T20:10:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/21 "2022-09-19T00:43:28Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > lammable and inflammable. > > Flammable: capable of burning > Inflammable: capable of bursting into flame spontaneously This has changed completely during my lifetime. When I was young, flammable didn’t exist and inflammable meant able to be inflamed. Uninflammable meant unable to be inflamed. Trouble was that too many people thought that the in part meant not, as in, say, incapable. So they (who are the they, I wonder) decided to replace the terms with the perfectly understandable flammable and non-flammable. For this reason inflammable ought to avoided like the plague. Although I am most negative on random language change (e.g. the disinterested to mean uninterested), I completely agree with this one. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/22 "2022-09-19T00:45:16Z")
This may not fit the OP’s description, but I always get tounge twisted on the following: conscious, conscientious, concise sympathy, symphony ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/23 "2022-09-19T00:56:21Z")
**Rouge** : a red powder or cream used as a cosmetic for coloring the cheeks or lips **Rogue** : a dishonest or unprincipled man. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/24 "2022-09-19T02:02:20Z")
Aw, geez! An expression of dismay. [Rick and Morty Season 3 - "Aw Jeez!" - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQXOCq0cPqI&ab_channel=PickleRick) Orgies. Social events that may lead your neighbors to say “Aw, geez!” [🎥 CALIGULA (1979) | Trailer | Full HD | 1080p - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYuvAgfi8jk&ab_channel=MOVIEPREDICTOR) (SFW trailer) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/25 "2022-09-19T02:06:13Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Less and fewer. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > This was one of the shibboleths of the prescriptivist crowd. The ruthless leaders of the Grammar Nazis were known as Fewerers. ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/26 "2022-09-19T02:12:12Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Poisonous: You bite it and you die. > Venomous: It bites you and you die. I saw something funny online related to this once: If you bite it and you die; it’s poisonous If it bites you and you die; it’s venomous _What if it bites me and it dies?_ That means _you’re_ poisonous _What if it bites itself and I die?_ That’s voodoo _What if it bites me and someone else dies?_ That’s correlation, not causation _What if we bite each other and neither of us die?_ That’s kinky > [@Lumpy](#): > > **Rouge** : a red powder or cream used as a cosmetic for coloring the cheeks or lips > > **Rogue** : a dishonest or unprincipled man. When I used to play _World of Warcraft_, rogues were often the subject of posts on the game’s forums complaining that they were overpowered. One time someone posted a thread complaining that rouges were overpowdered. A lot of people missed the joke but still took time to correct the spelling of “rogue.” ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/27 "2022-09-19T02:15:09Z")
I think you need a final punchline question where the answer is “Bite me!” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/28 "2022-09-19T02:18:11Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > The other trigger is > Devastate: severe and widespread destruction or damage. > Decimate: kill or destroy one in ten. Decimate hasn’t meant that since about 176 CE. Or [thereabouts](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=decimate) > The word has been used (loosely and unetymologically, to the irritation of pedants) since 1660s for “destroy a large but indefinite number of.” > [@Riemann](#): > > The ruthless leaders of the Grammar Nazis were known as Fewerers. [David Attenborough voice] Now nearing extinction, the Lesser Flamingo has been renamed the Fewer Flamingo [/David Attenborough voice] [![](https://cdn.download.ams.birds.cornell.edu/api/v1/asset/77964161/1800) ](https://cdn.download.ams.birds.cornell.edu/api/v1/asset/77964161/1800) ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/29 "2022-09-19T02:20:27Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Decimate hasn’t meant that since about 176 CE. Or [thereabouts](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=decimate) I do NOT care. That’s how I learned it in school and I am willing to _die_ on this hill!!! Now get off my lawn!!! ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/30 "2022-09-19T02:23:22Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > I am willing to _die_ on this hill But that’s only because you’re under the misguided illusion that we’ll leave the other 9 of you alive on the hill. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/31 "2022-09-19T02:32:22Z")
@JaneDoe42; speaking of hills, **Calvary:** The hill near Jerusalem on which Jesus was crucified. **Cavalry:** Soldiers who fight on horseback. I hear and read folks mixing these two up constantly, it gives me a chuckle every time they do. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/32 "2022-09-19T02:47:17Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Less and fewer. > > Back when I was in school, the English teachers said that one of them is used for amounts and the other for quantities. They may have explained briefly what their imagined distinction between amount and quantity was, but it sure didn’t stick I think countable nouns vs uncountable nouns is the usual terminology. But there are so many. If there were less countable nouns, less people would make this elementary mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/33 "2022-09-19T03:20:40Z")
**entomology** : the branch of zoology concerned with the study of insects. **etymology** : the history of a word or phrase shown by tracing its development and relationships ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/34 "2022-09-19T03:22:14Z")
I got corrected here on this one several years ago. I knew what ingenious meant, so when I heard/saw “disingenuous” I assumed it had been coined by simply a adding a prefix onto the other word, hence “disingenious” (sic). My excuse is that nobody ever uses ingenuous or even genuous, and may even pronounce it with the i vs. the u (tho I subsequently discovered ingenue, an innocent naive waif, and immediately connected the dots). ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/35 "2022-09-19T03:35:18Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > **entomology** : the branch of zoology concerned with the study of insects. > > **etymology** : the history of a word or phrase shown by tracing its development and relationships Spiders are insects: the entomological fallacy. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/36 "2022-09-19T03:46:25Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > It has mostly gone the way of whom. needscoffee’s law: If you think you’re using _whom_ correctly, you’re probably not. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/37 "2022-09-19T03:58:59Z")
Mischievous vs. mischievious Mischievous is proper. Mischievious is considered to be a misspelling or at least improper form. It shouldn’t be used, but I hear it quite often. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/38 "2022-09-19T03:59:36Z")
Faze and phase: Faze: To disturb the composure of Phase: A particular stage of a process I very commonly see “That doesn’t phase me,” even on this message board. I’m always tempted to comment “Are we in Star Trek?” It should be “faze” in that sentence. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/39 "2022-09-19T04:09:27Z")
Pallet/Palate/Palette - very often are mixed up. Led/Lead - surprisingly, misused on this site a lot. (Using lead instead of led. ) Comprises/composed of - difficult to keep straight. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/40 "2022-09-19T04:10:04Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > needscoffee’s law: If you think you’re using _whom_ correctly, you’re probably not. How about this formulation of needscoffee’s law: > Whomever thinks they are using _whom_ correctly is probably not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772.md?page=3)