I’ve written about this topic before, but thought it good to revisit it. There are some troublesome words regularly misused in emails or book proposals.
Penultimate
This term is often used carelessly to mean “the best” or “the greatest.” Penultimate means next to the last in a series or sequence. Not the best of the best. When used to mean “the best,” the writer is actually describing it as the second best. Maybe the word will change its meaning in the English language. But for now, please use it correctly.
Entitled
A book is not entitled. It is titled.
Bemuse
“The joke made him laugh and stare at me with bemusement.” The writer meant to write “amusement.” To be bemused is to be bewildered or confused. It is possible that my sample sentence was intended to describe a character who was bewildered, but the context said otherwise. This word is beginning to change its meaning to describe “detached amusement.” (See the Merriam-Webster online dictionary definition.) If you and your friends are bemused by the change, talk among yourselves.
I could care less
Be sure to make this a negative because you meant to write “I couldn’t care less.” Think about that one for a second; it will reveal itself to you.
Climatic
The writer meant to write “climactic.” The above relates to climate. The correct word relates to the climax.
Wreck havoc
It is “wreak havoc.” Wreak means to cause or inflict. Like “wreak vengeance.” Wreck (without the “a”) means to cause destruction. It is a common error because they are similar in sound and meaning. But it jumps off the page to an editor when done wrong.
Appraise
“I appraised him of the situation.” Nope. You “apprised” him of the situation. To appraise is to figure out the value of something (like the selling price of your house). Apprise means to inform.
Flaunt
When you “flaunt,” you are showing off. “Flaunt your wealth.”
When you “flount,” you disregard or mock.
A bad boy cannot “flaunt” the rules. He flouts the rules.
Proscribe
This means to denounce, condemn, or forbid. It does not mean to recommend. That is the word “prescribe.”
A doctor can prescribe a treatment for your illness.
A doctor can also proscribe you from doing certain activities after your knee surgery.
They mean very different things.
Irregardless
Look this up in the dictionary. The definition is “regardless.” ??? It’s technically not a word.
Regard-less means to be without regard.
Ir-regard means to not have regard.
So ir-regard-less means “not-regard-without” or “regard” because the prefix and suffix cancel each other out.
Editors will scrub this one from your manuscript. But it will be found in everyday language. Which means someday it might become a legitimate word …. after a generation or two has passed.
Your Turn
What words you can add to the list?
Smelt versus smelled.
Is it a fish, or did you melt it down in a furnace to extract metal from it? No? It was stinky but not a fish, and you definitely didn’t melt it down in a furnace? Then you did not smelt it.
Flounce. It’s often used to describe the exaggerated walk of a lady who’s aware of her own pulchritude (there’s another one!), but it really means a rapid, exaggerated walk taken in anger.
***
She went flouncing to the door
when Steve observed her pulchritude,
but she did not know the score,
and showed it in her attitude,
for pulchritude means beauty,
not the slur she thought Steve meant.
Steve had thought it his duty
to pay that compliment.
But his courtliness was flouted
when the words “I could care less!”
were with flying spittle shouted
and Steve did then confess
to his lack of understanding that
to many, pulchritude means ‘fat’.
Pique, peak, peek. I often see someone say their interest was peeked or peaked, when they meant piqued (stirred with curiosity). If your interest peeked, maybe you’re a peeping Tom? 😉
And speaking of peaked, a mountain might be sharply peaked, but if you are looking pale, you’re also peaked, but it’s pronounced, PEEK-ud.
Another one I see misused is “wet your appetite.” You might whet your appetite with something wet, like a cocktail, but an appetite is whetted, not wet. And whet means to excite or stimulate, NOT to suppress.
Oh, yes. I’ve seen peaked/peeked in place of pique so many times recently!
Love lists like these. Thanks for posting, Steve! My two biggest “wrong-word pet peeves” are “nauseous” for “nauseated” and “comprise” for “compose.”
Although “nauseous” has been used erroneously for so long, it’s becoming accepted as synonymous with “nauseated,” the word actually means “causing nausea.” So, when people say, “I’m nauseous,” they’re saying they cause other people to become queasy. While this may be true, I doubt that’s their intended meaning!
“Comprise,” meanwhile, is more closely interchangeable with “contain” than “compose.” Correct examples:
“The Steve Laube Blog is composed of insightful posts on writing and the publishing industry.”
“The Steve Laube Blog comprises insightful posts on writing and the publishing industry.”
I see both “nauseous” and “comprise” misused often, even in high-level academic writing and journalism. Kind of shocking.
“That begs the question”, does NOT mean, “That raises the question of….”. To beg the question is a fallacy in philosophical logic, meaning that the conclusion of a premise is actually part of the premise, or a statement is self-evident such as “Tall men can reach higher shelves”.
Sy, THANK YOU. I scrolled down to add exactly what you said.
I hear this phrase used incorrectly all the time—which probably means the powers that make language changes will deem the use acceptable in another decade and we’ll be the old geezers shaking our fists about change. 🤪
“Chester drawers” vs “chest of drawers”, “what-a-go” vs “a while ago” and many others in my neck of the woods.