Common Confusion

I've noticed that spelling, punctuation and grammar seem to be less and less important to people, causing them to say things that don't make sense or are not what they want to say. Thus, I thought I'd write a helpful blog to point out the differences. Sometimes people legitimately don't know the difference, but with the frequent "helpful" nature of autocorrect, these mistakes are sometimes thanks to machine error.


Accept = to choose to agree
Except = indicates exclusion

You just need to accept that all mammals, except for whales, dolphins and a few others, live on land.

Ado = bother
Adieu = French for "good bye" (with the expectation of never seeing the person again)

Without further ado, I fear I must bid you adieu.

Affect = a verb
Effect = a noun

If you are going to affect change, it's going to leave an effect on people.

Alumni = the plural form (at least one person among those mentioned is male)
Alumnus = the singular masculine form
Alumna = the singular feminine form
Alumnae = the plural feminine form

John is an alumnus of Harvard. Alice is an alumna of Yale. Mary and Sue are alumnae of Princeton. They are all alumni of Ivy League schools. It's a Latin thing.

Are = present tense plural and second person of "to be" (We are, They are, You are)
Our = belonging to us

Are you sure that's our octopus?

Asterisk = a punctuation mark (*) commonly used for footnotes, bullet points, and other purposes; also called a star
Asterix = a French comic book superhero with super strength and speed (That is, the comic strip is from France. Asterix is a Gaul, but then technically, the Gauls are now called French...)

Caesar better be careful not to use so many asterisks when writing about his laurel wreath*, or Asterix might steal it!

*See Asterix and the Laurel Wreath, which doesn't technically involve an asterisk

Bazaar = a market, often involving crafts
Bizarre = very strange

I thought it was bizarre that they were selling knitted platypi at the bazaar.

Blonde = a female with blond hair
Blond = a male with blond hair


Brunette = a female with brown hair
Brunet = a male with brown hair


Desert = a large expanse of hot sand; deserts sometimes have plants such as cacti and others, or they can be full of sand dunes and no vegetation
Desert = to abandon
Dessert = something people eat after a meal

No need to desert us to eat your dessert in the desert!

Draught = the British spelling of "draft"
Drought = a period where food and water are scarce

In periods of drought, people often wish for a draught of water.

e.g. = exempli gratia, Latin for "for example" - giving an example
i.e. = id est, Latin for "that is" - explaining what you mean

Science fiction often uses robots; e.g., R2-D2, #5, WALL-E, etc. As our society becomes more automated, we may end up using them more and more in reality. But will they look humanoid; i.e., like us?

Grammar = the proper way to construct sentences
Grammer = an actor known for his portrayal of Frasier, Beast (X-Men) and others

Kelsey Grammer has excellent grammar.

It's = short for "it is"
Its = belonging to it

It's interesting how a snake sheds its skin.

Lose = the opposite of "to win" or "to gain"
Loose = the opposite of "tight"

I wish kids wouldn't wear their pants so loosely. They're liable to lose them!

Loser = one who loses (doesn't win or gain)
Looser = more loose (not tight)

Losers of weight often find their pants get looser and need to get smaller pants. Maybe certain teenagers would enjoy the looser pants.

Metal = an element that clangs when you bang on it; e.g., gold, tin, silver, steel, copper
Medal = a reward that is often made of metal

All the medals given out at the competition were made of metal.

Pallet = a portable platform used for hauling freight
Palette = a small board used for mixing paint
Palate = the top of the inside of the mouth

The artist specializes in unconventional paintings. This one shows a forklift lifting boxes on a pallet. As you can see, the boxes are full of fruit that looks like you could just reach out and taste it. The canvas might be tough on the palate, though, so I don't recommend it. The painter's palette clearly got a lot of use.

Precedent = an event that affects future decisions
President = the head of a government or company

The president's poor choices may set a bad precedent. (Note: This is not a commentary on any specific president!)

Role = the character someone plays in a play, or a person's job
Roll = to turn over and over, or a kind of pastry

I played the role of the baker in the opera. I baked lots of rolls. My character also enjoyed rolling down hills.

Sight = something seen
Site = a location
Cite = giving credit where credit is due

The construction site is quite a sight! Just be sure to cite your sources when writing about it.

Stationary = not moving, perfectly still
Stationery = paper used for writing letters

When writing letters by hand, it's best to hold the stationery stationary. Otherwise, it might be difficult to read.

There = in that place, over there
Their = belonging to them
They're = short for "They are" or "They were" (usually "They are")

They're right over there with their geoducks.

Through = indicating transit
Though = in spite of
Threw = past tense of "to throw"
Thru = finished

Even though he knew better, that kid just threw the ball through the window! As a result, his baseball days are thru.

To = indicating transfer, from one to another
To = precedes the infinitive of a verb (e.g., "to eat")
Too = also or excessively
Two = the second number, 2

I want to come to the two concerts too!

Were = past tense plural and second person of "to be" (We were, They were, You were)
Were- = the first syllable of werewolf; in this case, "were" means "man"
We're = short for "We are" or "We were" (usually "We are")
Where = an inquiry about the location of someone or something
Wear = to be clothed, or to slowly decay from frequent use

We're sure those were the werewolves you were looking for, but where did they go? They were wearing our shirts. I just hope they don't wear them out!

Whose = belonging to whom
Who's = short for "Who is"

All right, who's the wise guy whose dog just barked the rhythm of "Jingle Bells" in May?

Your = belonging to you
You're = short for "you are"

You're sure that's your aardvark, right?

A lot = two words!

All right = also two words!

OK = an acronym that stands for "Oll Korrect." When it was coined, they changed the spelling of "all correct" to form a new term. While "okay" is not technically wrong (see the article linked in this point), "OK" is more correct.

Wherefore = why (not where). Thus, Juliet is not wondering where Romeo is. She's wondering why she had to go and fall in love with a member of their rival clan.

The Tower of Babel

Proverbs 16:18

Pride goes before destruction

    a haughty spirit before a fall

Questions:

Have any of you learned any languages besides English? Which ones?

Have you tried talking to someone who doesn’t speak English? How did it feel? Did you figure out a way to communicate?

***

In 6 days, God created the earth and everything in it. The first two people He made were Adam and Eve, and they lived in a beautiful garden. God told them that they could eat anything from any of the trees except for one. For a while, they did a good job of obeying that command, but eventually, when the devil tempted them, they disobeyed and ate the fruit of the one tree they weren’t allowed to eat from. That made God very sad, and He had to throw them out of the garden because of it. They had children. Their son Cain was jealous of his younger brother Abel, and let’s just say he overreacted. At any rate, Abel didn’t survive. The first generation was guilty of disobedience, and the second generation was guilty of murder. Things were going downhill fast! Adam and Eve had a third son, whom they named Seth. They also had other children, but we don’t know what their names were. As more generations came along, people got worse and worse. They worshiped idols. They killed people. They did many other horrible things, and finally, several generations later, God had had enough. He caused a huge flood that wiped out everyone but one family and at least two of every animal. Noah and his family were the only ones who followed God, and He had Noah build a boat to save humans and animals.

He had three sons, named Shem, Ham and Japheth, who came with him on the boat. After the flood, Noah’s family started to grow. Ham had four sons. You may not have heard of his sons, but you’ve probably heard of some of the nations they and their descendants founded. Their names were Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan. Cush had a son named Nimrod, who was a powerful king, and he built many cities. You may have heard of Babylon and Nineveh. Those and many others were his handiwork.

At this point, the people had again begun to multiply, and there were lots and lots of them. But they all spoke the same language. People started moving eastward, and they settled in a land called Shinar. Then they decided to build a city. Not just any city. This one would have a tower, and they decided it would be super tall. It should be the tallest building anyone had ever built, and it would reach up into the sky. It would be so tall that people from miles around would be amazed, and they would know how awesome these people were.

So they set to work. They made their own bricks and started construction. God was watching, though, had He had some problems with this. Everybody spoke the same language, and they thought awfully highly of themselves. Too highly. If this kept up, they would be able to do almost anything they set their mind to do, good or bad, and they wouldn’t bother looking to God, who provided what they needed to survive.

So God came up with a plan. Something that had never happened before.

One day, the people were working hard. The leaders were yelling commands at the workers. People talked to each other, and they started noticing something weird. Ils ne purent plus se comprendre.

« Trouve un marteau ! » cria un contremaître.

“Ano?” may nagsabi. “Anong sinasabi mo?”

Après avoir vu plusieurs aspects bizarres, le contremaître répéta : « Un marteau ! Un marteau ! »

“Hindi ko maintindihan” may sumagot. “Anong sinasabi mo?”

様々な所で奇妙な会話が始まりました。Nigdo se nerozumely. De snakket alle forskjellige språk. Por fin, tuvieron que abandonar la construcción de la torre. Mahirap magtrabaho ng sama-sama kung hindi natin maiintindihan ang sinasabi ng ibang tao.

En almal het uit mekaar gespat. They found people they could understand and moved on to different parts of the world.

TRANSLATION:

One day, the people were working hard. The leaders were yelling commands at the workers. People talked to each other, and they started noticing something weird. They could no longer understand each other.

“Get a hammer!” a foreman yelled.

“What?” someone said. “What are you talking about?”

After seeing a bunch of weird looks, the foreman repeated, “A hammer! A hammer!”

“I don’t understand!” someone replied. “What are you saying?”

Weird conversations started all over the place. Nobody could understand each other any more! They were all speaking different languages. Finally, they had to give up. It’s hard to work together on something if you can’t understand what people are saying.

So everyone scattered. They found people they could understand and moved on to different parts of the world.

***

The Hebrew word Babel means "gate of God", and it's similar to "balal," which means confusion. 

***

Questions:

How did making people speak different languages stop the construction?

Why did God stop the building?

Can you think of any other reasons that He might do that?

Do you think God’s punishment was merciful?

***

One reason God did it this way was to keep people from getting too powerful. Being united in a cause gives people lots of power. Sometimes that’s a good thing, but when people are united in rebelling against God, that is a bad thing. He made them speak many different languages so that they couldn’t be too united. Only a few hundred years earlier (which to God would be recent), He had sent a flood and wiped out almost everyone because they had become so evil. He didn’t want to have to do something like that again so soon! Even after the Tower of Babel, people got more evil, and God knew that someday He would have to do something about it. He punished the nation of Israel several times. Some of them even went into exile in Babylon. Notice any similarity between “Babylon” and “Babel”? It was probably the same place! Finally, many years later, God did the ultimate act of mercy. Jesus came to earth as a baby. I expect we’ll be hearing more about that later this month.