Skip to main content

Words that stump us

Take stump.  It is a cricket equipment and has some specific connotation to the sport, yet it is used colloquially to indicate how vexing the English language can be.

Language has one purpose.  To communicate.  Whether to the present audience or to one in the future.  It manifests itself in the form of pictures (going back in time) to audio signals (sent into space).  Most commonly it is the written format that we exchange information in.

Here are some common word pairs in written form, where even the pros find themselves in a quandary.  This does not address the pronunciation aspect of words which I can write about in a separate blog.
Grammar could take up a book unto itself.
Not that I propound to be an expert at any of the above but as I have said before: my blog my rules.
Speaking of using words that confuse us -

Use or Usage

Advice or Advise

Principal or Principle

Antivenom or Antivenin

In spite or Inspite

Watch or Clock

Stay or Live

Climate or Weather

It is hard to understand the axioms from the idioms in this language whether you are native born speaker or not.. regional nuances further confuse the heck out of a person wanting to speak it right.

This argument has been made about all languages but given English is widely spoken across multiple regions of the world it gets the most criticized.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Of Jims and Johns

Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...
2 comments
Read more

Presumptive Society

Today's world is hyper connected.  I am not so sure what it means but you hear it a lot.  It is probably hyper but not sure how connected it is.  Sugar (fermented or not) is available in many ways than before and so getting hyper is easy.  It is probably more a threat than cocaine since it is sold legally. And what is this connected stuff?  Most people I encounter seem disconnected from reality.  So going back to this assumption that we are connected there are subtle and no so subtle instances of how brands and companies and middle men try to portray someone - A linkedin profile for somebody working for X years at a place advertises to the connected network that so and so is CELEBRATING X years @ Such and Such Inc. Do we know if (s)he is celebrating or cringing?  Perhaps a better way to portray will be - So and So LASTED X years @ such & such inc. Then it exhorts the readership to go ahead and congratulate them for this lasting effe...
2 comments
Read more

But What If We're Wrong?

I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language.  Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds.  The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic.  Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'.  This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...
2 comments
Read more