Tag Archives: language

English spelling is rife with these short words that sound the same and cause trouble. Just look at pare and pear and pair, or bear and bare, or peek and peak. But just like those, these two are very different, and their meanings don’t overlap at all!

To peer is to look with concentration or difficulty – “I peered at the dusty manuscript in the dim light”. It also means to be just visible – “the sun was peering around the side of the mountain” (the origin of this meaning may be from appear in 16th century dialect). A peer is a member of the nobility in Britain and Ireland, or a person of same age, status, rank or ability as oneself *my peers in the business world are a group of women who set up businesses a few years ago when they were around 40″. As an extension of this, it can mean simple equal (in quality) – “as an editor, he has no peer”.

A pier is any long narrow structure e.g. leading out to sea for boats to more on or for entertainment, or projecting from an airport terminal giving access to planes. It is also the pillar of an arch or pillar supporting a bridge, wall between windows or adjacent openings. Its origin is unknown.

“I peered at the pier through the mist as my peers danced away, celebrating their business success with some peers of the realm.”

You can find more troublesome pairs here and the index to them all so far is here.

This one was suggested to me by my friend, Laura Creaven. I do like it when people suggest Pairs to me – so keep them coming, everyone!

Here we have two cooking terms which look oh-so-similar – but one is a noun and one is a verb!

A marinade is a mixture of oils, spices and vinegar in which we soak meat, fish or other proteins such as quorn or tofu, so that they soak up the flavours.

To marinate is to soak such items in such a mixture.

But wait: what’s this? The dictionary also has a verb, to marinade, which means … to marinade.

So you can marinate or marinade your slab of tofu or your fish, but you can only soak them in a marinade.

You can find more troublesome pairs here and the index to them all so far is here.

After a short hiatus, the Troublesome Pairs are back! Today we’re looking at one that I see getting mixed up very often one way round, and not so often the other way – which is actually often the way.

A wave is a movement back or forth – whether it’s a hand, water or something in one’s hand that’s waving (“She gave the steam train a big wave as it chuffed past”). It’s also the signal made by that movement. The verb means to move back and forth while remaining itself fixed position (“I always wave at steam trains, and other kinds of train, too”; “She waved a stick at the dog to attract its attention”). Other meanings follow the movement of a wave, e.g. a light curl in the hair or what the dictionaries rather soberly call a ridged mass of water. It can also be a sudden increase in a phenomenon eg. a wave of copy-cat head shavings.

To waive, on the other hand, and this is the one that gets written “wave” quite often, is to refrain from claiming or insisting on – “Because you don’t have much income, I will waive my fee”, “he waived his right to anonymity”. A waiver is an act or instance of waiving a right or claim or a document recording this – “Before you drive this steam train, please sign this waiver to absolve us from blame if you get covered in soot”. A waver, however, is someone who’s waving.

“He waved the waiver in glee – ‘I don’t have to pay the fee!'”

You can find more troublesome pairs here and the index to them all so far is here.

Another one of those homophones that trips people up – perhaps more in one direction than the other? I see “with baited breath” a fair bit, but not the opposite error – and in fact it’s all about this one phrase, really, isn’t it.

Baited can be used as an adjective to describe, for example, a fish hook that has had something tempting slotted onto it to lure a fish – “I lowered the baited hook into the water and waited for the bite”. It’s also the past tense of “bait”, to put bait in a trap or on a hook, or to deliberately taunt or annoy someone (or something sentient).

Bated in the sense we’re discussing here only exists in this precise form within this phrase – how interesting! More reason to make sure we keep using it correctly – you know how I get about wanting to preserve the intricacies of our amazing language … So – “with bated breath” means “in great suspense” and comes from a 16th century usage, the past participle of bate (restrain), coming from abate, which we do still use, of course.

Bate, by the way, describes an angry mood in informal British English “ooh, don’t get in a bate with me, I was only teasing”  and is also a falconry term describing when a hawk beats its wings in agitation and flutters off its perch. So now you know.

“I waited with bated breath as he baited his sister that little bit too much … and she eventually flew into a bate”

You can find more troublesome pairs here and the index to them all so far is here.

I don’t know about you, but I had suspected that this one was something of an urban myth, encountered only in sitcoms or observational comedy. As I came across it myself, yesterday, in a verbal interaction, I do suspect that it only appears verbally, and not in written form, in its non-ironic instances. (I don’t go in for finger-pointing for the sake of it, but if you do come across a written instance, do let me know.)

So, for the avoidance of doubt:

Pacific means peaceful in either intent or character (or both), or related to the Pacific Ocean.

Specific, which I would like to hazard a guess is 99.9% of the time the word the user means to use, means precise, clear, clearly defined – so “would you like your new mattress delivered on a specific date or don’t you mind when it arrives?” and is also used in relation to a particular subject – “These tufts are specific to this particular kind of mattress”.

You can find more troublesome pairs here and the index to them all so far is here.

I have to admit that I had never given this one any consideration until it came up in something I was working on yesterday, and I had to look it up to check. So: zeros or zero?

Zeros is a plural noun, and oddly enough it’s the plural of zero. No e when you have lots of zeros.

Zeroes is a form of the verb to zero (in), meaning either to set a measuring device back to zero (I have never heard or read this myself, but M confirms that he uses it with measurement devices in his scientific job!), or to home in on something: “She zeroed in on the fact that he had hidden the muddy boots in the shed”.

So the noun has no e – “there are too many zeros in this post” and the verb does have an e – “my reader zeroes in on the fact that I had to look it up and contacts me to ask me why I don’t know everything off the top of my head”.

You can find more troublesome pairs here and the index to them all so far is here.

Someone told me that they had actually seen this one on a festive poster last week, so welcome to the Christmas 2012 Troublesome Pair!

To slay is to kill in a violent manner. You can also use it in a metaphorical way: “I’m going to slay that demon and face up to the supermarket on Christmas Eve”.

Slay (as a noun) is also an alternative spelling for sley, which is a tool which is used in weaving, to push the weft into place. No, I didn’t know that either, and I’m guessing that the author of the unfortunate poster wasn’t talking about Santa and his weaving activities.

A sleigh is a sledge drawn by reindeer or horses. A sledge is a vehicle set on runners which is used to travel over snow and ice, propelled by gravity downhill or pushed or pulled. Oh, and a sled is a North American term for sledge. Don’t say I don’t give you added value!

Season’s Greetings and I hope you enjoy 2013’s Troublesome Pairs and Trios!

You can find more troublesome pairs here and the index to them all so far is here.

I have to admit that I hadn’t fully grasped the differences between these two. So I’m guessing lots of other people hadn’t done either. And the dictionary is quite opaque on this, talking about chemical compounds rather than the essential, understandable differences, although my trusty “New Oxford Style Manual” does better.

Silicon is a naturally occurring element (symbol Si) which is hard and durable and used in the silicon chips inside computers.

Silicone is a synthetic compound of silicon, and this is the one that’s used in breast implants and cooking utensils: it can be a liquid or gel as well as a solid.

So, actually two that it’s a good idea NOT to get mixed up!

You can find more troublesome pairs here and the index to them all so far is here.