all goes well/augurs well: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Monday, March 3, 2014

all goes well/augurs well 

Some folks who don’t understand the word “augur” (to foretell based on omens) try to make sense of the common phrase “augurs well” by mangling it into “all goes well.” “Augurs well” is synonymous with “bodes well.”



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Paul Brians' latest blog post explains "once in a blue moon."

systematic/systemic: The Weekend Edition—Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday–Sunday, February 28–March 2, 2014

systematic/systemic
By far the more common word and the one you should use if you are in doubt is “systematic.” It refers to things that are arranged or dealt with according to some system or organized method. “Gerry systematically sorts his socks into piles: those that are still wearable and those that are too smelly.”

Often “systematic” and “systematically” are used metaphorically to imply that something is done so consistently that it almost seems there must be a system behind it: “Tom systematically leaves the toilet seat up.” If you need a synonym for “consistent,” the word you need is “systematic.”

“Systemic” is a much rarer scientific and technical term referring to parts of a body or system. It is frequently used in medicine and biology. A systemic disease affects many parts of the body. A systemic herbicide may be sprayed on the leaves of a weed, but it spreads down to its roots to kill the whole plant. A systemic problem in banking affects many parts of the banking system.

If you’re talking about how something is done according to a system, the word you want is “systematic.”

If you’re talking about something happening to or inside of a system, the word you want is “systemic.”

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The Week's End Extra from the Archives: "Cowing to Special Interests" (April 14, 2011).

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times/multiply: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Thursday, February 27, 2014

times/multiply
School children struggling with their times tables often say that they “times” one number by another. It’s “2 times 2,” but the mathematical operation being performed is not “timesing.”

Some unfortunate folks carry this childish vocabulary into adulthood, continuing to use “times” as a verb meaning “multiply.” If you’re old enough to handle three-syllable words you can manage this one.

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bought/brought: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Wednesday, February 26, 2014

bought/brought
If you pay for something, you’ve bought it; if you bring something you’ve brought it. These two words are probably interchanged most often out of mere carelessness. A spelling checker won’t catch the switch, so watch out for it.

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somebody/someone: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Tuesday, February 25, 2014

somebody/someone
Can “somebody” or “someone” be plural nouns? No. They are always singular.

A sentence like “When somebody runs a red light, they risk causing an accident” is just an example of singular “they.”

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Chicano/Latino/Hispanic: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Monday, February 24, 2014

Chicano/Latino/Hispanic
“Chicano” means “Mexican-American,” and not all the people denoted by this term like it. When speaking of people living in the US from various other Spanish-speaking countries, “Chicano” is an error for “Latino” or “Hispanic.” Only “Hispanic” can include people with a Spanish as well as with a Latin American heritage; and some people of Latin American heritage object to it as ignoring the Native American element in that population. Only “Latino” could logically include Portuguese-speaking Brazilians, though that is rarely done.

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Bible: The Weekend Edition—Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday–Sunday, February 21–23, 2014

Bible
Whether you are referring to the Jewish Bible (the Torah plus the Prophets and the Writings) or the Protestant Bible (the Jewish Bible plus the New Testament), or the Catholic Bible (which contains everything in the Jewish and Protestant Bibles plus several other books and passages mostly written in Greek in its Old Testament), the word “Bible” must be capitalized. Remember that it is the title of a book, and book titles are normally capitalized. An oddity in English usage is, however, that “Bible” and the names of the various parts of the Bible are not italicized or placed between quotation marks.

Even when used metaphorically of other sacred books, as in “The Qur’an is the Bible of the Muslims,” the word is usually capitalized; although in secular contexts it is not: “Physicians’ Desk Reference is the pharmacists’ bible.” “Biblical” may be capitalized or not, as you choose (or as your editor chooses).

Those who wish to be sensitive to the Jewish authorship of the Jewish Bible may wish to use “Hebrew Bible” and “Christian Scriptures” instead of the traditionally Christian nomenclature: “Old Testament” and “New Testament.” Modern Jewish scholars sometimes use the Hebrew acronym “Tanakh” to refer to their Bible, but this term is not generally understood by others.

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The Week's End Extra from the Archives: "Well-regulated usage being necessary to the clarity of free speech. . ." (August 14, 2013).

Paul Brians discusses this entry in his latest blog post.

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