Make Your Editor Cry: Chock up vs. Chalk up
In modern language, a “chock” is most often thought of as a wedge or block for steadying an object (such as a cask or the wheels of an airplane) and holding it motionless. Thus to “chock something up” would mean to install chocks so that the something in question remains motionless.
The correct version—”chalk up”—comes from keeping score on a chalkboard and means to ascribe or to credit.
The correct expression is any variant of “chalk up” such as “chalk it up” or “chalk this up” or “chalking it up.”
Incorrect:
Often, adults don’t believe there could be a mental issue because they chock up bad behavior in adolescents to just being a “typical teenager.”
Correct:
Let’s just chalk up the grammatical errors to inexperience.
Gregg Bridgeman is the Editor-in-Chief at Olivia Kimbrell Press. He is husband to best-selling Christian author Hallee Bridgeman and parent to three. He continues to proudly serve in the US Armed Forces and has done so in either an active or reserve capacity for more than twenty years as an airborne and air assault qualified paratrooper, earning a Bronze Star for his service. Most importantly, he was ordained in October of 2001 after surrendering his life to Christ decades earlier.