I understand that a part of working in radio is that people love to correct you when you use a wrong word. The texts are almost instantaneous. Perhaps you've heard Bonnie make fun of me for my Missouri accent when I pronounce "volcano." (For the record, I pronounce it like Jimmy Buffett does: val-kay-no. And if Jimmy does it, it's okay!)
I only have two pet peeves when it comes to the use of wrong words: when people use "loose" instead of "lose" on social media AND when people try to make WHAT THEY THINK is a "devastating" political comment on social media - but all I can see is the misspellings.
A new report reveals which are some of the words that seem to confuse people the most.
The website 24/7 Wall Street just revealed their picks for the words people get wrong all the time, compiling their list based numerous articles on the subject as well as style guides and dictionaries. As you can imagine, many of the words are homonyms, and there’s a good chance you’ve been using them wrong for a long time. And if you aren’t, it probably drives you crazy when people do.
Words people get wrong include(click here for the complete list):
- Adverse and Averse –While adverse means harmful, averse means opposed to.
- Affect and Effect-Affect is a verb, meaning to impact or change, while effect is a now, or the result or that change.
- Aural and Oral -Aural refers to the ear or hearing, and oral to the mouth or speaking.
- Bear and Bare –While bear is a furry animal, it can also mean to endure, as to bear with something, while bare means uncovered, or can mean to expose when used as a verb.
- Biannual and Biennial -Biannual means twice a year, while biennial means every two years.
- Capitol and Capital –The first refers to the place Congress meets, which is in Washington, DC, the U.S. capital.
- Compliment and Complement -Compliment is a verb and noun meaning praise. Complement means goes well with.
- Desert and Dessert -Desert, is the sandy place, while dessert, the sweet treat.
- Disinterested and Uninterested -Disinterested means neutral or not having a stake in the outcome, whereas uninterested means you just don’t care.
- Fewer and Less- Fewer should be used for things that can be counted, while less should be used for things that can’t be counted or don’t have a plural.
- Irregardless- Irregardless means the same as regardless, with some arguing that there really is no such word as irregardless.