The Return of...

[gnomi]

...Crimes Against Vocabulary.

OK, here's another set of pairs that gets to me:

regime/regimen: You fight against an oppressive regime. A regimen is a systematic plan or a regular course of action.

Yes, I know that Merriam-Webster online provides "regime" as a synonym of "regimen" and vice versa. Doesn't mean I have to agree wtih it.

peaked/piqued: One should beat one's heavy whipping cream until it is peaked. A mountain is peaked. One's interest is piqued.

Comments

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

And don't forget a fit of pique -- vs. a fit of peak, which always makes me think of mad mountaineers

[madfilkentist]

I can see fighting against an oppressive regimen, especially after a couple of weeks with no desserts.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

If one's interest is piqued, one is interested. If one's interest has peaked, one WAS interested.

[elul-3.livejournal.com]

This I like. :)

[lisafeld.livejournal.com]

And if someone is looking peaked, they were probably the target of someone else's fit of pique.

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

Peter Piper took a peek to pique his peaked interest?

[llennhoff.livejournal.com]

The Communist Chinese regime required people to follow a specified exercise regimen.

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

Different pair, but I thought you'd appreciate this: The Boston Globe yesterday ran a story about people who give half their net worth or business earnings to charity. They're talking about morals and money, so this almost works for an pun ... but not quite:

And they prod philanthropists and charities to question basic assumptions about philanthropy, such as the conventional wisdom that principle should never be spent, a philosophy rejected by Frank Butler, a retired chief executive of a subsidiary of Kodak.

"I always dip into principle," said Butler, 77, of Topsfield, [....]

[(Anonymous)]

How piquant!

Here's another one:

loan/lend: The first is a noun, and the second is a verb. When you lend money, it's a loan. When you loan money, it's an incorrect usage.


STEVE O.

[dpolicar]

Had this been behind an LJ-cut, I'd have peeked.
And then there's this guy.

[zsero.livejournal.com]

Slight quibble: while I would generally use "regimen", my internal dictionary accepts "regime" as a synonym, with the implication of a particularly grim regimen. I don't know whether this distinction has any basis outside my own head.

[beleakeeney.livejournal.com]

I have a whole list of these and update it regularly. Gnomi, thanks for this; I'm adding them!

My personal favorite from a published Jonathan Kellerman book: blah blah something up the bridal path.

Except the trail in question was for horses. Tee hee hee!

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

When I was a full-time managing editor, I had a list on my bulletin board in the editorial department and added to it regularly.

We had trial/trail as a typo regularly, since we were a telecom publisher and frequently reported on new technology trials.

[beleakeeney.livejournal.com]

And this is helpful:
http://wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I love this site; I've had it bookmarked for years.