Posts Tagged ‘meaning’

One little letter…

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

One little letter can make a huge difference.

I have just come across an example of why it is critical to proof read everything before you publish it, and why attention to details such as spelling and grammar are important.

Actually, I first saw this site about 8 months ago and they still haven’t noticed or corrected it. I had forgotten it but for my amusement I’m glad it was still there!

In the header of every page of the site, they have used an a instead of u in their tagline. One little letter could be a simple typo, of course, but your tagline and header are the first things people notice! And in this case, it doesn’t look like a typo as it makes a real word which gives a VERY different meaning.

The tagline in the header is “Pass a drag test no sweat” which instantly brings to mind men dressing as women (testing to see if they are real drag queens is perhaps unusual but I guess we don’t want people pretending to be in drag?)

Elsewhere, they use the tagline “Pass a drug test no sweat” which related to the fact they sell “products is removing unwanted substances from your body and provides for quick detoxification of your organism.”

I’m not going to touch the rights and wrongs of passing drug tests this way, but it is clear that there is a huge difference between drag and drug.

So check your work carefully and don’t just rely on spell checks to get your work correct.

Use your words wisely!

Roast carat or carrot?

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Carrot: an orange coloured root vegetable from the parsley family and a good source of carotenoid nutrients including beta-carotene
Roast lamb isn’t the same without roast potatoes and carrots

Caret: a mark that indicates where text is to be inserted. In editing, it is ^ but on a computer screen it is usually >.
The fox jumped over ^log.

Carat (ct):a unit of weight used for gems and precious stones. It is a metric measurement based on 0.2 grams per carat.
A five carat opal weighs about one gram.

Karat (k): a measure of the purity of gold – pure gold being too soft for jewellery, it is mixed with other metals to make an alloy.
My necklace is 18k which means it contains 75% pure gold.

Telling them apart can be simplified. Carrot is the most commonly used version, and the only one likely to rot.

Caret is a very specific word that most people would rarely come across, especially as the word cursor is used more often in a computer sense.

As for carat and karat, carat refers to how much gemstone you have to carry (i.e. the weight) while a karat refers to the King’s gold!

Use of electrocution is shocking

Monday, July 27th, 2009

This word is misused so often it is scary – or shocking if you can excuse the pun! In fact, last week I heard a TV host admit to murdering half of his contestants on national television!

electrocution: dying from electricity being applied to the body
He was electrocuted when he touched both live wires.

Electrocution, electrocuted, electrocute – whichever form of the word, it means being killed by electricity. Yet so many people talk about being electrocuted themselves – if you believe in ghosts, that could be possible but otherwise if the person is talking about it they were not electrocuted!

An electric shock on the other hand means feeling electricity through your body but you surive the experience – it can be as mild as the shock you get from synthetic carpets through to an almost fatal shock.

As for our TV host, he had given many of his contestants an electric shock but I’m pretty sure he hadn’t killed them despite saying he had electrocuted them.

Either, neither…

Monday, June 15th, 2009

It is the use of either and neither (rather than the spelling) that people seem to have trouble with – I have just edited a 40 page document which repeatedly misused either/or.

either: an introduction of two alternatives separated by the word or
You can either buy or rent this property

neither: an introduction of two unavailable alternatives separated by the word nor
neither John nor Mary can run the meeting.

What is important to note is that both words refer to a choice of TWO options – if there is a list of choices, either/neither can’t be used.

wrong – You can choose either chocolate or vanilla or strawberry.
correct – You can chose either chocolate or strawberry.
correct – You can choose chocolate, vanilla or strawberry.

Can you see the site?

Monday, May 4th, 2009

Cite: to reference something and identify that source, especially in academic and legal papers
The lawyer decided to cite John’s affidavit but not Mary’s.

Site: a location or area
They had to clear the site before they could build on it.

Sight: being able to see; what is seen
She lost her sight after staring at the eclipse.
“What a sight!” said the hikers when they reached the mountain top.

The word cite is used less often in general conversations and probably doesn’t suit most business documents. But I do see site and sight being misused.

Think of site as a place where you can sit and it may help you remember which is which.

Capitals change the meaning

Monday, April 27th, 2009

It’s Monday but I’m going to do the Monday Meanings post a little differently today in honour of ANZAC Day on Saturday.

Sometimes, a capital letter can change the meaning or significance of a word.

Digger: an ANZAC soldier
The Diggers proudly walked off the ship in Melbourne.

digger: someone who is digging or regularly digs
Sitting in the sandpit, the digger created a moat around his castle.

The general rules for the use of capital letters obviously still apply, as does the annoyance of over using capitals. For the above example, I added a capital letter to a regular noun to make it a proper noun as I could also do for words such as Mother/mother, Father/father, Nurse/nurse and Captain/captain.

Cavalry and Calvary

Monday, April 13th, 2009
Cavalry: a group or fighters (soldiers, warriors, etc) mounted on horses
The foot soldiers will follow the cavalry into the valley.

Calvary: the Crucifixion place for Jesus; also used to refer to crucifixion crosses and sites in general or to describe intense pain
The pilgrims went to Calvary in Jerusalem.

Unless you write or read a lot of Christian materials, you probably won’t come across Calvary so learning to spell cavalry alone may be enough!

Just breathe

Monday, March 30th, 2009

Breath: the process of taking in air to get oxygen into the lungs; the air taken in or pushed out during breathing; small amount of air or wind
Taking a deep breath, she gave her manuscript to the printer

Breathe: the act of taking air into or out of the lungs. Also refers to letting air through a material (e.g. letting red wine breathe or choosing a fabric that can breathe)
It can be harder to breathe at high altitudes.

Put your angel on an angle

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Angel: a heavenly being, often depicted in white with wings and a halo; a person with admirable qualities, possibly above most people’s
She was an angel, visiting us everyday for hours while I was bedridden.

Angle: the difference in position of two intersecting lines
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is on an unusual angle for a building.

Verses vs. Versus

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Verses: a section of words in a poem or song, similar to a paragraph in text
The third verse in that song was sung a bit out of tune.

Versus: a term to link two things being compared against each other.
It’s Richmond versus Collingwood in the footy this weekend.

vs: The abbreviated version of versus.
It’s Richmond vs. Collingwood in the footy this weekend.

Not sure how to remember which is which? Just remember the us in versus relates to us against them!