Thursday, May 15, 2008

Word Stuff

Thanks, fellow writers, for the fun little 10-word stories you posted. Call me easy to entertain, but I enjoy reading things like that.

There's something satisfying about watching the creativity of others come to life. Yanno? It's mentally invigorating.

So let's do another little brain stretch that doesn't have to do with tiny story writing, but rather with words that are easily and often mixed up. Do you know the difference between the following pairs of words? Can you come up with some others to add to the list?

Am I being really anal?

Ahem:

compliment and complement

dual and duel

farther and further

throws and throes

between and among

ensure and insure

???

5 comments:

  1. then and than
    are and our
    descent and dissent
    principle and principal
    cannon and canon
    faint and feint
    acclamation and acclimation
    serf and surf
    canvas and canvass
    sari and sorry
    vain and vein
    jam and jamb
    irregardless and regardless

    Okay...I feel like a complete and total word geek now. :S

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  2. Geeks rule! Love the list.

    So tell me: Is it "faint of heart" or "feint of heart," and why?

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  3. lose or loose is one I see when editing other people's work...

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  4. And for some reason, just_me, that one drives me particularly nuts!

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  5. Ooh. Me too. Hate "loose" for "lose."

    Do the apostrophe catastrophes count? Like your/you're and it's/its?

    Also, have/of, as in "he must of known" for "he must have known."

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