Some days are full of social media burns so severe people are looking for ointment. Other days, people are posting charred Pinterest fails of recipes gone wrong. But the word that comes up again and again is that “burn.”
Have you ever been “burned” by bad spelling? Ever been “burnt” by it? Is there a difference?
If this expression brings to mind a great heave-ho of a rope, you might be thinking about (and spelling) this expression incorrectly.
Reminder: The idiom meaning “to do what is expected” or “to follow the established rules” is correctly spelled “toe the line.”
Some typos—like turning “emulate” into “immolate”—take a dark turn, but then you have other typos that are dark no matter what way you look at them. “Internment” vs. “interment” is one such example.
When you’re looking for a black and white, right versus wrong answer, please don’t make the question be anything about the usage of “embed” vs. “imbed.”
Are fossils embedded in stone or imbedded in stone? Is the video of Grammartopia-RVA embedded on my website or imbedded in my website? Is a journalist embedded with soldiers or imbedded with soldiers?
Clearly, grammar is my jam. I just love it—and I’m going to argue the expression “That’s my jam” applies to more than just favorite music—so when I see words misused, I just have to stop and think, “did you really mean to write that?”
For example, if I see the phrase “door jam,” my imagination concocts all sorts of nonsensical ideas from jelly squeezed out of doors to architectural traffic congestion to something right out of the Mad Hatter’s tea party.
However, I’m guessing none of these are what a writer intends to imply.
Once upon a time, you thought language was simple, didn’t you? Then came the moment you started to over-think the differences between “onetime” vs. “one time” vs. “one-time”—and your boggled mind hasn’t been the same since.
I jest… but then, maybe I don’t. These are the subtleties that catch us and take our writing back a step.
You’ve got to ask yourself, “do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?
This is what I feel like saying every St. Patrick’s Day when people toss about bad wording among drunken Irishmen (and drunken pretend Irishmen too).
Before someone irate corrects you on this one, let me be clear: if you’re going to abbreviate St. Patrick’s Day,
Eek! That’s the sound of me squealing either because I’m scared to death of ostriches or because spellcheck once again was not your friend.
If you’re writing about “eeking” out a living, maybe it would make sense if you’ve totally nailed the horror movie scream and are constantly cast in roles in this genre. Or maybe if you’re tending ostriches and those giant freaky birds are good at sneaking up on you. However, the expression in its correct form is to “eke out a living.”
Love him or hate him, but you can partially credit Kurt Cobain for a shift in spelling that has occurred in the past twenty-five or so years around this(these) word(s).
What do you think of when you hear, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Come As You Are,” and “Lithium”?
Nevermind. No, I’m not discounting my last question. “Nevermind” was the name of Nirvana’s 1991 album.
What fascinates me is that parallel with this release is the growth of “nevermind” as one word, rather than “never mind,” the two word form. It didn’t start with Kurt Cobain, but there’s a good chance that this album title played a major role in this spelling shift.
Take a deep breath. These two words are rather easy to remember. No hyperventilation required.
We aren’t going to do any breathing exercises here, only speaking exercises. Say these words aloud with me. Breath. Breathe.
No this isn’t a meta meditation.