Even if we had known, you can argue that the charge that moves around in circuits “should” be the positive one, or you can argue that the charge that stays put “should” be the positive one. Franklin didn’t “get it wrong”, because there is no “right”.
Likewise with all of the various right-hand-rules. Students are often taken aback when they learn that all coordinate systems must necessarily involve an arbitrary choice that can’t be mathematically defined.
Leerie - Scots for “lamplighter”
true true too truuue!
vitamin: an organic molecule, or class of molecules, essential to an organism in small quantities for proper metabolic function. Example: vitamin A
vitamer: a specific form of a vitamin. Example: beta-carotene
Work to spec: Follow someone else’s detailed instructions in making something. “Spec”, here, means “specifications”.
Work on spec: Create something, such as a work of art, that nobody has actually asked for yet, in the hope that you’ll find a buyer after it’s done. “Spec”, here, means “speculation”.
A timely entry for sure. Thank you!
It’s important for someone doing either to be clear which it is. Mistakes about that get expensive fast.
Liquefy: turn into liquid
Liquidate: sell investments or property to make them available in the form of money
surety: a promise to pay a sum of money in the event that another person fails to fulfill an obligation
insurance: a means of indemnity against a future occurrence of an uncertain event
assurance: a contract for the payment of a sum on occasion of a certain event, as loss or death
snugly, adv.: in a close-fitting way, with little or no movement ease; as in, ”Dancers’ leotards are designed to fit snugly.”
snuggly, adj.: affectionately clinging, conducive to snuggling or embracing; as in, ”My cat was feeling really snuggly this evening and wouldn’t get off my lap.”
This confusion is so ubiquitous that the former spelling is almost extinct in, e.g., sewing patterns and dressmaking blogs. 
Good one
Not really, they are just variants of the same word.
“Snugly” is an adverb, formed in the standard adverb way: “snug” + “-ly” is “in a snug manner”.
“Snuggly” is an adjective, meaning “pertaining to snuggles”.
They’re etymologically connected, to be sure, but they’re different words.
Right. The -le in “snuggle” is a frequentative, making it a different word (and a verb), as different as “hand” vs. “handle,” or “crack” vs. “crackle.”
The one that confused the heck out of me is that the North Magnetic Pole of the earth, the one north of Canada, has a south magnetic polarity and vice versa. A compass needle or other permanent magnet has what used to be called a “north-seeking pole” (i.e., the end that tends to point generally toward geographic north at most places near the earth’s surface). The name has been shortened to the “north pole” of the compass needle or other magnet, which I think is unfortunate.
Anyway, that reminds me of another confused pair:
magnet: the sort of whatsit discussed above, with a magnetic field and (unless magnetic monopoles exist) a magnetic dipole moment, and other magnety sorts of properties that make them act in the ways associated with magnets, but the technically correct non-circular definition of which is entirely beyond my powers.
magnate: a wealthy and powerful business leader
As Hot Fuzz taught us, a specialist in the refrigerator sales business is a fridge magnate .
That’s why I said “it’s that old opposites-attract thing again”.
Feynman actually had a great bit about that, how most descriptions of magnets are circular. Because most people talk about them in terms of springs, but the forces in springs are, of course, ultimately electromagnetic.
Python: snake
Pythian: oracular, Delphic
PieThon - an eating contest.
protege (or protégé): someone under the protection or instruction of another
prodigal: (as a noun) a person who is prodigal (adj.: wasteful of money or other goods)
prodigy: an extremely talented person or a wondrous creature or event. The adjectival form is prodigious (“wondrous” or “extremely large”)
progeny: one’s offspring and descendants collectively
Python/Pythian reminds me of the old Parthian shot/parting shot debate. Today, we usually say “parting shot” for an insult delivered at the end of a conversation. Some people swear it’s supposed to be “Parthian shot,” named for the way mounted warriors of the ancient Parthian Empire used to fire arrows backwards while retreating. I have no particular desire to debate the correctness of either form, but I will note when I have occasion to use the phrase, I spell it “parting.”
Forgot one.
barley (“BAR-lee”): a cereal grain used as human or animal food, and in the making of beer, ale, and whiskey
barely (BARE-lee"): scarcely, hardly