Reminded me of a bit of artwork from Dr. Seuss:
Until quite recently, I had thought that serendipity was synonymous with highly improbable good luck, like Domino in Deadpool 2. It turns out that, at least where scientific endeavors are concerned, serendipity combines a fortuitous event with an active agent who is primed to intuit the value of that event, which may not be immediately apparent, and then act on it. There’s a good Wikipedia page on it with some examples:
And the story from which the name originates is enlightening:
censured= express severe disapproval of (someone or something)
censored= officially examine (writing, artistic work, etc.) and suppress or remove any parts that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.
Sushi: Sticky rice and filling wrapped in seaweed. The filling is often, but not necessarily,
Sashimi: Raw fish.
Can someone do “grift” and “graft”? I think that there are meanings of both of those words that are close together, but I’m not sure of the distinction.
The OED’s definition of “grift” is simply
grift
U.S. slang.
= graft
That is, they mean the same thing.
Which is
graft
colloquial (originally U.S.).
The obtaining of profit or advantage by dishonest or shady means; the means by which such gains are made, esp. bribery, blackmail, or the abuse of a position of power or influence; the profits so obtained.
But graft, on this side of the pond, can mean demandingly hard work, with anything but criminal connotations.
Plus the medical/horticultural meanings.
venal: having to do with selling; by extension, amenable to receiving a bribe
venial: worthy of forgiveness
Venal behavior involves soliciting or accepting bribes, obviously a grave wrong. Venial behavior is behavior that is wrong but of a relatively minor and forgivable nature.
batter: to beat repeatedly or severely
batten: to secure
You should batten down the hatches aboard a ship when the weather threatens to batter things around.
pedant: a person who is overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning; a teacher or schoolmaster
pendant: something hanging
needed: required, necessary
needful: necessary, needed / eager, desirous; in want, in need
needy: in need; desiring constant affirmation
phytology: study of plants
machology: study of fights
[okay, I kind of made that pair up]
specie: gold and silver coins collectively. E.g., “Modern governments issue fiat money, which has no intrinsic value, but in the past they issued specie.” Specie is an uncountable noun, so there is no plural form.
species: a taxon of organisms between genus and subspecies. E.g., “The modern human species is called Homo sapiens and the three extant species of orangutans are members of the genus Pongo.” The singular and plural forms of the noun are spelled and pronounced exactly the same. Specie is not the singular of species.
aggravate: to make worse or more serious; sometimes used to mean “irritate” but this usage is best avoided in formal speech and writing. E.g., “A high-sodium diet may aggravate kidney problems.”
irritate: to annoy. E.g., “Traffic jams irritate me.”
price: the cost of something; to set a value on
prize: a reward; something captured; to consider something valuable
prise: to extract; to force open
Fawn: A young deer.
Faun: A mythical human-goat hybrid, similar to a satyr.
Not common, but I notice several people on a fly-on-the-wall medical documentary series talking about themselves itching when they obviously mean scratching.
And another reversal of meanings I very occasionally hear - “borrow” instead of “lend”.
Spanish doesn’t even have a word for “borrow”. You have to say something like “ask to lend” (pedir prestar).
unexceptional: not unusual, ordinary
unexceptionable: beyond reproach
I misread the latter as the former while reading a translation of The Count of Monte Cristo yesterday but it didn’t make much sense in context. I had to go back to see where I had gone wrong.
Fawn: to court favor by a cringing or flattering manner
Faun: a light grayish brown
leech: bloodsucking worm
leach: dissolve via percolating liquid
venery: hunting, or sexual pleasure??
The one sometimes leads to the other, not perhaps as often as one would like.
Fawn is a color (“a yellowish tan”) named for the young deer. Faun is not a color as far as I can tell.