# Words that are not the same but get interchanged **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 2, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944 "2017-06-02T17:05:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/81 "2017-06-04T23:42:12Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > A phrase I’ve been seeing a lot lately: “bald-faced lie” (or “bald-face lie”). This seems rather new, as I don’t recall seeing it until recently. The phrase as I’ve always known it is “bare-faced lie”. > > Is “bald-faced lie” something that can only be told by unbearded people? > > Is “bare-faced lie” something that can only be told by people who aren’t wearing ski masks? > > And as for stanch/staunch (mentioned by OP in Post #1): This galls me too, as I see it most in news articles written by supposedly professional journalists who should know better. It’s a one-way mistake too: I often see “staunch” written where “stanch” is meant: “Staunch the bleeding”, “Staunch the flow of dollars”. I never see “stanch” written where “staunch” is meant: Trump disses our \*stanch allies. > > Much to my dizzgust, some “descriptivist” fictionaries have caved to popular mal-usage and now list “staunch” as an alternate spelling for “stanch”, meaning to stop the flow of something. This must be staunchly stanched! Bold faced vs bald faced. How did you leave this one on the table? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/82 "2017-06-04T23:46:57Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > A phrase I’ve been seeing a lot lately: “bald-faced lie” (or “bald-face lie”). This seems rather new, as I don’t recall seeing it until recently. According to [World Wide Words](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bal2.htm), the original usage was “barefaced lie.” Americans started using “bald-faced lie” in the late nineteenth century. There’s also “boldfaced lie,” which goes back almost as far as “barefaced lie.” ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/83 "2017-06-04T23:53:11Z")
Perimeter, parameter. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2017, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/84 "2017-06-05T00:12:43Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > …And as for stanch/staunch (mentioned by OP in Post #1): This galls me too, as I see it most in news articles written by supposedly professional journalists who should know better. It’s a one-way mistake too: I often see “staunch” written where “stanch” is meant: “Staunch the bleeding”, “Staunch the flow of dollars”. I never see “stanch” written where “staunch” is meant: Trump disses our \*stanch allies. > > Much to my dizzgust, some “descriptivist” fictionaries have caved to popular mal-usage and now list “staunch” as an alternate spelling for “stanch”, meaning to stop the flow of something. This must be staunchly stanched! In fact, they appear to be simply variant spellings, with equally long history and identical etymology. Some U.S. dictionaries claim that “stanch” is more common for the verb, but that isn’t supported by Google ngram which has “staunch the flow” slightly ahead of “stanch the flow”. For the adjective, “stanch” was always uncommon and seems to have died out completely in favor of “staunch” in the last few decades I have always used “staunch” for both adjective and verb (British English), but I’m not sure that it’s a British/American difference. What’s your basis for claiming that one spelling of the verb is a “mistake”? Based on you putting “descriptivist” in scare quotes, I’m going to go out on a limb and make a wild guess that you don’t have _any_ basis for that claim? ---
**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:** [June 5, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/85 "2017-06-05T00:21:37Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > To make matters worse (for me), and this is not a matter of a cross-language pun, the word “affect,” thankfully seen even in English writing with the German orthography “Affekt,” is a common word in German musical esthetics, and is carried over in English language. “Doctrine of affections” works to refer to the general idea, but “affection” as the noun never caught on, at least in modern English. > > I used to use it in academic writing so often till this day I make the usual mistake of spelling everything that sounds like it with an “a.”… Leo, you often seem to have interesting things to say, but I think I’m not alone in being unable to decipher what you mean much of the time. Are you saying here that German is your native language? ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/86 "2017-06-05T01:55:53Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Sorta like the confusion / double meaning in this classic sentence: “If it wasn’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all.” > > Does “luck” mean “any happenstance”, or only “favorable happenstance”? Depends; it’s used both ways. > > English is … special that way. 🙂 I think “luck”, all by itself, has positive implications, although it’s not absolute. Certainly, you wouldn’t describe yourself as “lucky” if you just meant “things often happen to me due to random chance”, it clearly means “GOOD things often happen to me by random chance”. And if you say “I guess we need some luck here”, you again are hoping for a positive random outcome. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/87 "2017-06-05T02:35:08Z")
> [@jerez](#): > > Took me a minute to sort out peddle/pedal… The bicycle-riding flower salesman is going to pedal to town to peddle his petals… > [@](#): > > > [@GuanoLad](#): > > > > I remember my Bank once had a desk labelled “inquiries” and across the room another labelled “enquiries”. It was odd. > > ``` > I offer guess and suppose, as in “I guess the branch manager had a wicked sense of humor” and “I suppose there are worse things.” > > ``` The Enquiries desk is for British customers and the Inquiries desk is for American customers. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/88 "2017-06-05T02:41:37Z")
Nigger/Nigga. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/89 "2017-06-05T03:47:24Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Leo, you often seem to have interesting things to say, but I think I’m not alone in being unable to decipher what you mean much of the time. Are you saying here that German is your native language? No, English is. But your reading must be hasty or shallow, because I’m pretty sure English is your native language also. In which “Affekt” in some circles is a perfectly cromulent noun. The post is clear. See ATMB recently or BBQ the fuck out of me. Next time ask a query/request a clarification without the intro, even submitted courteously as you do. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/90 "2017-06-05T12:16:10Z")
founder/flounder As in the boat was floundering, rather than foundering. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/91 "2017-06-05T17:05:19Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > founder/flounder > As in the boat was floundering, rather than foundering. The fishing boat, overloaded with flounder, foundered. The crew found themselves floundering among flounder to escape the foundering boat. Most were never found. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/92 "2017-06-05T19:59:23Z")
… except by hungry sharks & crabs. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/93 "2017-06-05T20:05:17Z")
Didn’t see anyone mention mute/moot…no idea why this gets interchanged, but I hear it a lot. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/94 "2017-06-05T20:14:00Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Didn’t see anyone mention mute/moot…no idea why this gets interchanged, but I hear it a lot. It’s easy to see why, surely. “Moot” is an obscure word. If somebody does not know the word, they may aurally mistake it for the more common “mute”. The meaning “not up for discussion” is very close to “something we keep quiet about”. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/95 "2017-06-05T20:23:43Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > [del]Scene[/del] Seen in a nearby thread (“Terraforming…”) in this forum just today: > I think that means all the Earth’s resources (“brought to bare”) have been strip-mined? Bare with me…:smack: ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/96 "2017-06-05T20:25:20Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > It’s easy to see why, surely. “Moot” is an obscure word. If somebody does not know the word, they may aurally mistake it for the more common “mute”. The meaning “not up for discussion” is very close to “something we keep quiet about”. It is, and don’t call me Shurley. 😉 To my ear, moot and mute sound very different, but I get that moot is a bit obscure to anyone who doesn’t read a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/97 "2017-06-05T22:57:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **dtilque** : > > The bicycle-riding flower salesman is going to pedal to town to peddle his petals… At the farmers’ markets around here, there’s one guy who calls himself “The Bread Peddler”, who tows a cart with his wares behind his bicycle. ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/98 "2017-06-06T01:19:39Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > A phrase I’ve been seeing a lot lately: “bald-faced lie” (or “bald-face lie”). This seems rather new, as I don’t recall seeing it until recently. The phrase as I’ve always known it is “bare-faced lie”. > > Is “bald-faced lie” something that can only be told by unbearded people? > > Is “bare-faced lie” something that can only be told by people who aren’t wearing ski masks? > > And as for stanch/staunch (mentioned by OP in Post #1): This galls me too, as I see it most in news articles written by supposedly professional journalists who should know better. It’s a one-way mistake too: I often see “staunch” written where “stanch” is meant: “Staunch the bleeding”, “Staunch the flow of dollars”. I never see “stanch” written where “staunch” is meant: Trump disses our \*stanch allies. > > Much to my dizzgust, some “descriptivist” fictionaries have caved to popular mal-usage and now list “staunch” as an alternate spelling for “stanch”, meaning to stop the flow of something. This must be staunchly stanched! Among the greatest tragic moments of my educational life, was the day that I learned to my intense dismay, that dictionaries do not, in fact, have as a primary, or even secondary task, the establishment of any sort of authority over word spellings or meanings. They are merely repositories of our collective verbal crapulence (or is that supposed to be crapulAnce?). ---
**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:** [June 6, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/99 "2017-06-06T01:33:22Z")
> [@igor\_frankensteen](#): > > Among the greatest tragic moments of my educational life, was the day that I learned to my intense dismay, that dictionaries do not, in fact, have as a primary, or even secondary task, the establishment of any sort of authority over word spellings or meanings. They are merely repositories of our collective verbal crapulence (or is that supposed to be crapulAnce?). Perhaps you are being sarcastic, but to me the it’s far more wonderful to realize that all of language arose spontaneously. It’s directly analogous to the wonderful revelation in 1859 that all of the beauty and design in nature arose through spontaneous natural processes. Evolution is far more interesting an inspirational than a “turtles-all-the-way-down” account, the “explanation” of a complex phenomenon as the creation of an unexplained _more_ complex entity. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944/100 "2017-06-06T07:34:28Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > So, thumbs up/down on “scite?” (It also kinda looks like [scilicet](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scilicet), which adds a legal/serious tone.) It’s also [Old English for “dung”.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shit#Etymology) I mean, I get that not everyone’s going to make that connection, but once you do, you can’t help seeing it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-are-not-the-same-but-get-interchanged/787944.md?page=6)