Tag Archives: English usage

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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Banished words list: fun for a slow news day

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You have probably noticed an article or two about the annual banished words list. Did you notice that it came out on January 1? The public relations department of Lake Superior State University has issued the list since 1976. It’s a lot of fun for word lovers. New Year’s Day is a slow news day, so when the list was new, it seemed a good day to get some press. I thought it would be fun to look back at previous lists to see if our society has actually stopped using any of the words.

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Where’s the proof? In the pudding? Clichéd confusion

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I just heard someone else say, “the proof is in the pudding.” What’s that supposed to mean? Sayings become clichés for a reason. They express a thought in a short, easily memorable form that people over a wide range of time and geography want to express. So it gets used over and over. Sometimes people get careless and don’t say it correctly. All meaning goes out the window, but unfortunately, the mangled version sometimes takes on a life of its own. It becomes as common as the correct, meaningful version, or maybe even more common.

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Eggcorns, a new word for misused pears

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Children eventually stop growing. The English language does not. Most new words catch popular fancy for a while, and then drop out of sight. Quite a few eventually get recognized by major dictionaries. Merriam-Webster just added 1,700 new words. “Eggcorn” now takes its place alongside malapropism, spoonerism, and mondegreen to describe a losing battle with using or understanding words. A malapropism substitutes a completely wrong word, as when Mrs. Malaprop (in the third act of The Rivals by Richard Sheridan) declares, “Sure, if I reprehend any thing in this world it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!” Not one of the italicized words means anything remotely like what she meant. Eggcorn, on the other hand, sort of make sense, as when someone refers to “old-timers’ disease” instead of “Alzheimer’s disease. In 2003 a blogger noted that he knew a woman who said “egg corn” instead of “acorn” and that there was no word to describe that kind of mistake. Linguist Geoffrey Pullam responded that “eggcorn” would be a very appropriate word. Its entry into a major dictionary’s word list indicates that, 12 years after the suggestion, “eggcorn” has demonstrated its usefulness and staying power. … Continue reading →