till/until: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday, August 7, 2015

till/until
Since it looks like an abbreviation for “until,” some people argue that this word should always be spelled “’til” (though not all insist on the apostrophe). However, “till” has regularly occurred as a spelling of this word for over 800 years; it’s actually older than “until.” It is perfectly good English.

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hold your peace/say your piece: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Thursday, August 6, 2015

hold your peace/say your piece
Some folks imagine that since these expressions are opposites, the last word in each should be the same; but in fact they are unrelated expressions. “Hold your peace” means “maintain your silence,” and “say your piece” means literally “speak aloud a piece of writing” but is used to express the idea of making a statement.

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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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flesh out/flush out: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Wednesday, August 5, 2015

flesh out/flush out
To “flesh out” an idea is to give it substance, as a sculptor adds clay flesh to a skeletal armature. To “flush out” a criminal is to drive him or her out into the open. The latter term is derived from bird-hunting, in which one flushes out a covey of quail. If you are trying to develop something further, use “flesh”; but if you are trying to reveal something hitherto concealed, use “flush.”

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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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misnomer: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Tuesday, August 4, 2015

misnomer 
A misnomer is a mistake in naming a thing; calling a debit card a “credit card” is a misnomer. Do not use the term more generally to designate other sorts of confusion, misunderstood concepts, or fallacies, and above all do not render this word as “misnamer.”

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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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wheelbarrel/wheelbarrow: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Monday, August 3, 2015

wheelbarrel/wheelbarrow
One very old meaning of the word “barrow” is an open container for carrying people or goods. The earliest barrows were carried by two people holding handles on either end. Add a wheel to one end and you have a wheelbarrow which can be handled by a single person. The word is also sometimes applied to two-wheeled versions.

The word has nothing to do with barrels.

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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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pawn off/palm off: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Sunday, August 2, 2015

pawn off/palm off
Somebody defrauds you by using sleight of hand (literal or figurative) to “palm” the object you wanted and give you something inferior instead. The variant spelling “pawn off” is both long-established and very popular, but makes little logical sense.

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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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scone/sconce: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Saturday, August 1, 2015

scone/sconce
If you fling a jam-covered biscuit at the wall and it sticks, the result may be a “wall scone”; but if you are describing a wall-mounted light fixture, the word you want is sconce.

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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.

Enjoy the calendar? Buy the book!