Sunday, August 16, 2015

slight of hand/sleight of hand: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Sunday, August 16, 2015

slight of hand/sleight of hand
“Sleight” is an old word meaning “cleverness, skill,” and the proper expression is “sleight of hand.” It’s easy to understand why it’s confused with “slight” since the two words are pronounced in exactly the same way.


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This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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