# 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:** 39
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/764 "2024-01-14T13:57:42Z")
Ahh, thank you. When @Lumpy brought up the idea of the Bursar, their example was of someone disbursing funds. So I figured payroll, accounts payable, or a section thereof. Whereas my only practical experience of the Bursar’s office as a student was paying them. IOW accounts receivable, or a section thereof. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2024, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/765 "2024-01-15T00:42:34Z")
To be **a part** of something and to be **apart** of something mean pretty much the opposite of each other. I’m surprised at how often people substitute the latter for the former. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2024, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/766 "2024-01-15T01:45:55Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > **apart** of something Can you say that in your dialect? It’s always “apart from” for me. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2024, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/767 "2024-01-15T02:30:29Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Can you say that in your dialect? Not really, but people (mistakenly) do anyway. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/768 "2024-01-15T03:09:29Z")
_a while_: noun phrase meaning “a period of time” _awhile_: adverb meaning “for a (usually brief) period of time” I wrote awhile then stepped away. A while later I came back to read what I had written. Note that _while_ can also be a conjunction (“I whistle while I work”) or verb (“I while away the time”), but these are less likely to be confused. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/769 "2024-01-15T04:41:12Z")
**Acuity** = sharp-mindedness **Alacrity** = enthusiasm **Celerity** = swiftness ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/770 "2024-01-15T05:00:26Z")
I tried to seatch the thread, truly I did. There’s reign and rein. A monarch reigns, and a horse is reined in. Manner and manor. To the manor born means one has high social rank, and one’s manner is how one behaves. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/771 "2024-01-17T18:00:14Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > To the manor born means one has high social rank The original phrasing is “to the manner born” (originally seeming to mean “accustomed to witnessing the habit from birth”). It’s from Hamlet, act 1, scene 4, where Hamlet is discussing Danish drinking habits. > But to my mind, though I am native here > And to the manner born, it is a custom > More honored in the breach than the observance. “To the manor born” (seeming to mean “having been born in a large fancy country house”) is an old variant that really took off around 1980 when the BBC sitcom _To the Manor Born_ was on the air. The title was an intentional pun on Shakespeare’s line, not an error. I don’t normally use either phrase, and have no strong opinion on which form is correct in the sense of a person born into a rich family. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/772 "2024-01-18T14:41:13Z")
**imply** : suggest without explicitly stating **infer** : assume/deduce from what isn’t explicitly stated ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/773 "2024-01-18T15:30:48Z")
So these are opposite sides of the same conversational event: the speaker implies something, and then hopes that the listener correctly infers what was being implied. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/774 "2024-01-18T15:35:49Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > **imply** : suggest without explicitly stating > > **infer** : assume/deduce from what isn’t explicitly stated **implication** : something implied, a suggestion or conclusion **imprecation** : a slur or epithet ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/775 "2024-01-18T17:14:25Z")
Yeah. I think a lot of the misuses people make are like that imply/infer pair. They represent two sides of a transaction and folks often use the wrong word for their side of it, although they correctly recognize the sort of transaction they’re participating in. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/776 "2024-01-18T19:39:12Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > So these are opposite sides of the same conversational event: Indeed, and I hear people reversing them (or at least using “infer” for “imply”) all the time ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/777 "2024-01-18T23:40:13Z")
Is there an echo in here? 😁 ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/778 "2024-01-18T23:51:46Z")
**intimate** : to make known **imitate** : to do or try to do after the manner of ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/779 "2024-01-23T01:08:59Z")
**volar** : pertaining to the palm of the hand or the sole of the foot **velar** : referring to a veil or velum ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/780 "2024-01-31T16:49:08Z")
**irrupt** : to break in **erupt** : to burst forth pronounced the same, for extra confusion! ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/781 "2024-01-31T23:01:03Z")
Just heard the first of these used wrongly in a podcast (should have been the second one), so: **Proscribe** - to ban **Describe** - give an account or representation of, in words **Prescribe** - to professionally recommend **Inscribe** - to etch or write ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2024, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/782 "2024-02-01T04:33:44Z")
**Ascribe** - to refer to a supposed cause, source, or author **:** to say or think that (something) is caused by, comes from, or is associated with a particular person or thing ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/783 "2024-02-01T15:59:56Z")
**Hologram** - a three-dimensional picture. **Holograph** - handwriting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772.md?page=38) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772.md?page=40)