Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
azurelunatic) wrote2003-02-06 09:10 pm
azurelunatic) wrote2003-02-06 09:10 pm
Usage Bitch
Let me introduce you to one of my favorite words. Two, in fact.
The first one is an imported word. French. In fact, it's not even quite imported to English yet; it hasn't been used enough. Adieu. It means, "Goodbye". "Farewell". It is what you say when you are leaving and waving at someone else, or what they say to you. Used: "I bid you adieu." Show's over. Night-night. Time to leave. Breaking it down at Merriam-Webster, we find that the component words include Deity, so one might resonably translate it to mean "Go with God."
The second one dates back to the 14th Century CE, and is English. This sucker's old. Ado. As in, Much Ado About Nothing. It means "1 : fussy bustling excitement : TO-DO; 2 : time-wasting bother over trivial details -- 'wrote the paper without further ado'; 3 : TROUBLE, DIFFICULTY." There was much ado when the water started pouring out of the A/C.
These words are not the same. They are pronounced the same, but they are not spelled the same. They do not mean the same thing. Do not confuse them. You will look silly, and I will know the difference.
The first one is an imported word. French. In fact, it's not even quite imported to English yet; it hasn't been used enough. Adieu. It means, "Goodbye". "Farewell". It is what you say when you are leaving and waving at someone else, or what they say to you. Used: "I bid you adieu." Show's over. Night-night. Time to leave. Breaking it down at Merriam-Webster, we find that the component words include Deity, so one might resonably translate it to mean "Go with God."
The second one dates back to the 14th Century CE, and is English. This sucker's old. Ado. As in, Much Ado About Nothing. It means "1 : fussy bustling excitement : TO-DO; 2 : time-wasting bother over trivial details -- 'wrote the paper without further ado'; 3 : TROUBLE, DIFFICULTY." There was much ado when the water started pouring out of the A/C.
These words are not the same. They are pronounced the same, but they are not spelled the same. They do not mean the same thing. Do not confuse them. You will look silly, and I will know the difference.
no subject
My personal spellcheck favorite (to laugh at and to weep over) is "voila". The spinning mailing list, which I've largely stopped reading, contains many people who like this word, none of whom can spell it. They alternate between "wah-lah" (thus showing they can't hear) and "viola" (thus showing that they're the spellchecker's bitch).
no subject