Writing is hard. Some aspects of it are hard, some are
harder. Homophones don’t help anything.
I came across this article a while ago. It stresses that you
can spell everything correctly and still be wrong. For example, being throne
for a loop isn’t quite right. The examples here are excellent, but I want to take
it a step further.
There seem to be some words that befuddle even editors of
Big Five publications. I’ve read about characters pouring over papers more than
once. (It would be better if they pored over them! That way the papers stay
dry.)
These are two completely different things: bare arms and
bear arms. One belongs either in a clothing description or a sex scene. The
other belongs in a scene with weapons. The arms are spelled the same, but
aren’t the same thing. The bear/bare needs to be right so we know which arms
we’re talking about.
These two are a bit tricky: accessary and accessory. The
first is a person who helps commit a crime. The second is something that helps
complete an outfit. For even more confusion, that first one is used in Britain, but in the US, they are exactly the same word, both accessory.
Another pair is capitol and capital. In a capitol building,
people pass legislation. It can be spelled with a capital letter. Inside the
Capitol building in D.C. (that’s the one you capitalize) is where laws are
created. In state capitol buildings, laws regarding capital punishment are
decided. Even worse, Springfield is the capital of Illinois, which allows it to
have a capitol building, which was built after raising the capital to do so.
The O type capitol is only for buildings, if that helps.
One last confusing pair: principle and principal. The
principal of the school is the one who enforces the principles of discipline. I
keep this one straight by envisioning a friendly principal, one who is a pal.
If you love this subject, here’s just the link for you: http://www.singularis.ltd.uk/bifroest/misc/homophones-list.html
photos from morguefile
by LiaLeslie, lisasoloninko, nightfall
Homophones are the bane of my existence! Some spellings I "think" I know only to be called out by a critique buddy or editor, at which point I pound my head on my desk. Other spellings I absolutely know (they're, there, their or you're, your) but my fingers type too fast for my brain and put down the wrong one. When someone points out my error, I pound my head on my desk. Yes, homophones are responsible for much bruising on my forehead.
ReplyDeleteI discovered the longer I taught high school English, the more homophones I marked. Now I think I occasionally use one wrong in empathy with all those writers.
ReplyDeleteMy mind knows the difference between most homophones. It's my fingers that get confused.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Grace, my mind knows, my fingers, not so much. What's worse is when the eyes see the expected spelling and gloss over the error. Head bruising ensues!
ReplyDeleteI agree with some of you. I catch (or sometimes don't catch) myself typing the wrong "your" when my brain knows the difference! Frustrating.
ReplyDeleteTwo brake onto righting, wee way and sensor hour wards. Much is at steak.
ReplyDeleteFunny, KM!!
ReplyDeleteBut you said "steak" and now I'm hungry.
Oh, Kaye! Your post brought back a memory for me of my standing in front of my high school English class, writing a sentence on the chalkboard as the teacher dictated it. I heard--and wrote--"in choir" as my classmates began to laugh behind my back for my not having written "inquire." Homophones are my nemesis!
ReplyDeleteRosemary, you can't be blamed for that--they sound exactly the same! My humiliating moment in high school English class was reading a passage aloud and mispronouncing "disheveled". I had read it plenty of times, but never heard it and I said dis-heeveled. That got a laugh, too.
ReplyDeleteIn the mindful throes of a first draft, I put on the page "isle" for "aisle." I'm hell on homophones! I had never heard the word non sequitur spoken so I rhymed it to gator. Guess not.
ReplyDeleteE. B., mispronouncing is the bane of readers. We've SEEN all the words, just never heard them.
ReplyDelete