Confusing Words Of The Week

Words of the WeekIt’s time for “Confusing Words of the Week” where I take a set of two or three words that get confused and give you definitions and try to give you a memory trick to help you remember when to use which word. If you have words that confuse you, use the Ask PTB tab on the website or send an email to [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:

  • tack – (n.) direction; (v.) to change direction
  • tact – considerate way of behaving so as to avoid offending others

Memory tips:

  • tack – think of the “k” as a road with a choice of direction

k

  • tact – think of the “t” as keeping things even to avoid offending others

t

Grammar Giggle – Wedding Invitations

I recently received this wedding invitation (after I received a message warning me of the errors). While the purchaser of the invitations should definitely make sure everything is correct, it would be nice if printers had some grasp of basic grammar so that they could mention when something doesn’t look right so that the purchaser can decide how they want to do it. This bride isn’t going to let the invitation ruin her wedding, but it is a shame that it got through the process without anyone noticing.

Wedding1Wedding2

Replay Thursday

Thursday-ReplayIt’s time for a review of recent blog posts just in case you’ve missed them. We call this Replay Thursday. Here are posts from Proof That proofreading blog and 60 Is The New 60 blog during the past week.

https://proofthatblog.com/2019/02/04/grammar-giggle-barbies/

https://proofthatblog.com/2019/02/05/confusing-words-of-the-week-47/

http://60isthenew60blog.com/2019/02/06/dont-phub-me/

Confusing Words of the Week

Words of the WeekIt’s time for “Confusing Words of the Week” where I take a set of two or three words that get confused and give you definitions and try to give you a memory trick to help you remember when to use which word. If you have words that confuse you, use the Ask PTB tab on the website or send an email to [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:

  • decadent – something that is luxurious and self-indulgent
    • The dessert was the most decadent thing she had had in quite some time.
  • decedent – a person who has died.
    • The decedent did not leave a Last Will and Testament.

Memory tips:

  • decadent – think of “deca”–which means a factor of ten–to represent how much weight you will gain if you eat the decadent dessert.
  • decedent – think of the beginning of the word “deceased” so a decedent is someone who is deceased.

Grammar Giggle – Barbie’s

This was a picture I took of a Christmas gift for my youngest granddaughter. It highlights the improper use of an apostrophe. What exactly belongs to Barbie? Or are you talking about more than one Barbie? Perhaps you’re talking about 20 Barbies? If this had said 20 Barbies and Barbie’s accessories, then the apostrophe in the second “Barbie” would be correct because you’re talking about accessories belonging to Barbie. As it is here, the apostrophe is incorrect because you’re talking about 20 Barbies so it is plural NOT possessive.

Barbies2

Grammar Giggle – Winery Tours

This past weekend I spent some time on winery tours. I found several Grammar Giggles to share with you.

Resturant – should be restaurant.

Resturant

Picknicking – should be picnicking. Someone got carried away with the “k’s”

picknicking

We had a special pairing where I found a couple of mistakes in the menu. The first made me wonder if Herman Munster was involved because it should be Muenster.

Munster

But my favorite was an absolutely amazing bite of dessert that was a cross between a brownie and fudge. As much as I thought I had “died” and gone to heaven, it really was more decadent than decedent.

decedent

Replay Thursday

Thursday-ReplayIt’s time for a review of recent blog posts just in case you’ve missed them. We call this Replay Thursday. Here are posts from Proof That proofreading blog and 60 Is The New 60 blog during the past week.

Grammar Giggle – Biscuitier

Grammar Giggle – Kowalla

2019 Word Of The Year

Confusing Words Of The Week

Dang You, Autocorrect!

Dang You, Autocorrect!

CannabisAlthough this story from The Beaverton was a little over a year ago, it really shows the dangers of relying on autocorrect:

OTTAWA – Canada is one step closer to the accidental legalization of cannibalism after the House of Commons passed a typo-ridden Bill C-45, formerly known as The Cannabis Act.

“I think no one wanted to be the one to point out the error,” MP Sara Anderson said. “We all thought someone else would do it, and then they called the vote, and here we are, all voting to legalize cannibalism.”

“It’s just one of those things.”

But Anderson also says the error might, conceivably, have something to do with a lot of MPs jumping the gun on legal cannabis.

“You know how it is,” said Anderson with a shrug. “You have the munchies, suddenly everything is about food… who can say why anything happens, really?”

The typo, which somehow crept into the House bill between the second and third reading, is expected to cost the Canadian economy up to 22 billion dollars a year in lost cannabis-related revenue but create a boom in cannibalism-related tourism.

“I guess now we’re all hoping the Senate will fix this,” Anderson said. “But I wouldn’t count on it. Some of them seem far more enthusiastic about the bill now than they were when it was about pot.”

At press time, the Green Party was calculating the carbon costs of a pound of long pig.