Lets clear the air

[electricflyer]

Since this forum is a bunch of friendly guys (and gals I suppose) I thought I would bring up the subject of misused words.

My favorite misused word(s) are there, their and they're. Another one is effect and affect. OK, Carl open up.

[solar.gumby]

I appreciate clarity when we communicate whether it be by computer or radio.
Too many folk think that what is accepted as texting is satisfactory everywhere. Not so.

Since this forum is a bunch of friendly guys (and gals I suppose) I thought I would bring up the subject of misused words.

My favorite misused word(s) are there, their and they're. Another one is effect and affect. OK, Carl open up.

[NN5I]

I have many favorites, but probably I find most amusement (or despair) in to, too, two, and tew. I can understand confusing too and two, I guess, though hardly anybody ever does; but to and too are almost never pronounced the same way in American speech (only when to is being emphasized, as in "I was going to the store, not coming from the store.") So how can anyone mix them up?

As for tew, only leatherworkers and anthropologists (and I, of course) know that such a word exists.

It took me no fewer than five edits to get this post nearly right.

Oh, yeah -- then and than. Aargh.

[Radio]

I always thought irregardless should be a word. Alas, it is not.

I struggle with apon and upon. One of which is not a word.

And I often misspell enginner. Or rather, engineer.

[NN5I]

I struggle with apon and upon.

And capon and coupon?

[electricflyer]

I knew this would affect Carl but didn't know what the effect would be. Yeah, to, too, and two are also misused a lot. I always figured too had the same meaning as also, and of course two as a number. How many people know what a capon is? If I hadn't been born on the farm I may have never heard of it.

[NN5I]

I knew this would affect Carl but didn't know what the effect would be. Yeah, to, too, and two are also misused a lot. I always figured too had the same meaning as also, and of course two as a number. How many people know what a capon is? If I hadn't been born on the farm I may have never heard of it.

Too can mean also, but it means excessively, too -- too often to be ignored. Isn't that just too, too?

It's always fun to be experimented upon, too, as long as it's done only once. Two times would be too much and would tend to get me into a tew.

Looking at the sentences in this post, I apologize for turning the last two to a too tew twain.

[edatlanta]

anyway/anyways

[NN5I]

Another usage that tends to disgust me, and make my teeth itch, and fill me with loathing, is the addition of totally meaningless words like basis in such expressions as on a daily basis. This has exactly the same meaning as daily, but is inarticulate, less easy to understand, and harder to say. I think it must have been coined by some clod who had to satisfy a required word count and hadn't much to say.

Basis is a perfectly good word, and has a meaning, but in those expressions it hasn't any meaning at all. Instead of saying I go there on a weekly basis, why not just say I go there weekly? The other day I heard a man say I think we'll have to examine these things on a one-at-a-time basis. My respect for him took a considerable hit.

[wa8yxm]

I should post the amazing brain thing where every word is messed up but you can still read it.

I do agree there are two tos too many.

[NN5I]

I should post the amazing brain thing where every word is messed up but you can still read it.

I do agree there are two tos too many.

Well, those amazing brain things are interesting; but typically (1) they specify that the first and last letter of each word mustn't be scrambled; and (2) the words have no homonyms (and no anagrams) that could fit in the sentence.

Otherwise those amazing brain things don't work. But they're still fun, even if their claim that they justify poor spelling is what Harry Truman would call horse manure.

A reporter once asked Bess Truman if she couldn't get Harry to stop saying manure. She replied that it took 25 years to get him to start.

[Radio]

Then there is bologna - which is an Italian sausage from the city of the same name, often used as a sandwich meat.

Also there is baloney - which we are all familiar with.