No easy feet: more misused pears and eggcorns

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The heel broke off a woman’s shoe in a parking lot. She later reported, “I ripped the bottom from the other shoe, no easy feet.” I’ll bet she had easier feet once she finished than if she had tried to walk on one good shoe and one bad one. Still, ripping off the good heel must have been a difficult feat. Welcome back to the world of misused pears pairs of words: mistakes with homonyms, or the related “eggcorn,” where people try to write what they have misheard.

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When semi- means the same thing as bi-: the case of semiannual and biannual

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I got a notice from my vet that my dog was due for a biannual procedure. It’s actually done every six months, so I finally suggested maybe they should call it a semiannual procedure. No, the office manager said. They looked it up years ago, and biannual means twice a year. Now let’s see. Semi- means half. Bi- means two. Logically, then, semiannual ought to refer to half a year and biannual ought to mean two years. But we’re dealing with the English language here.

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Spring: 27 quotes and some poems about its inspiration and craziness

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According to Alfred Lord Tennyson, a young man’s fancies turn to thoughts of love in the spring. Many people have lots of reasons to find spring inspirational. Meanwhile, it’s a silly season. This year, where I live, early March was warmer than early April. One day, a long-sleeved shirt is uncomfortably warm. The next day, we need a jacket over it. Lots more famous writers besides Tennyson have written what spring turns their thoughts to.

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10 pairs of confusing words: how to choose the right one

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The English language has a lot of words, and all too often, confusing words. Sometimes, two or more have similar spellings. Sometimes, two or more have similar meanings, but not similar enough to use them interchangeably. I have a whole series of posts I call misused pears that finds the humor in some of the wrong choices writers make. My intention, here, however, is to provide some explanations for a few pairs of confusing words. I hope you’ll find some clarity here to make your choices with more confidence.

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Artificial intelligence for writing: promises and problems

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is the latest in a long series of technological upheavals that have changed society forever. Artificial intelligence for writing has recently become more visible through OpenAI’s introduction of ChatGPT. It is a free software service. (GPT, by the way, stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer.) Anyone can use it by entering a prompt. ChatGPT then produces a piece of writing while you watch. Supposedly, it can write on any subject. It can write prose or poetry. And it can do it much faster than any human can. Not only that, it can translate from one language to another. It has naturally raised fears that artificial intelligence can replace human writers. That seems unlikely, but it also seems unlikely that any writer can avoid it for very long. It will bring new opportunities, but it will also cause problems.

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