Tag: language

Today’s Word Nerd installment is a somewhat rare type, where a common word and an old and obscure one share the same origin, and the old word only survives because it’s used in a common phrase. Load and lode.

Come and listen and we’ll tell a tale of tails. Today’s Word Nerd is yet another of those sets of words that autocorrect and spellcheck will completely ignore.

Today’s Word Nerd topic is one that’s become so ubiquitous that it even turns up among political pundits. Last month, Chuck Todd of Meet the Press suggested to Senator Bernie Sanders that they should do an interview in which they could “do the gambit of issues,” and the nation’s English teachers wept.

For today’s Word Nerd, we have an odd one: a case of a made-up word taking the place of the word it’s meant to imitate. I can’t think of another example of a trademark taking the place of its homophone in popular usage. We’ll look at Segue and Segway.

Today’s pair of words is uniquely American; the British are sensible enough to spell both words the same way. We have vice and vise, but in England, it’s vice and vice. If you’re British, you can ignore this week’s installment if you like.

For today’s Word Nerd topic, we’ll look at a word we swiped from another language and have since abused mercilessly, including a whole lot of attempts at what the academics call “invented spelling.” Viola and voila.

Today’s Word Nerd pair actually makes it into print every so often, usually with amusing results for those of us who get it. This is a case where using the wrong word can really change the meaning of a sentence. Elicit and illicit.

Merry Christmas! Today’s Word Nerd is holiday-themed because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Egg nog may have been involved. As it happens, both of these words apply to the holiday season. Presence and presents.

Today’s Word Nerd is not a terribly common one, though it pops up from time to time. Maybe it’s due to autocorrect, or maybe it’s apathy, but it’s one I’ve seen a few times online, usually in the form of people talking about “hearing the door creek” or “fishing in the creak.”