Something contemptible is worthy of scorn, like the contemptible jerk who talks in a theater; but contemptuous is the look you give that jerk who ….
Tag: Self-Editing
Conscience, conscious, and conscientious derive from the same Latin roots—the prefix com- (“with,” “together,” “jointly”) and the verb scire (“to know”), and the combination, conscire, ….
The words compliment and complement were once spelled the same but compliment became distinct from complement around 1650. They’re still pronounced the same but they ….
A pipe and a pike are very different things. The noun pike is short for turnpike, which is a broad road, sometimes a toll road. ….
This is a simple eggcorn. The etymology of “coleslaw” is from the late 18th century and comes from the Dutch word “koolsla” which is a ….
Climactic comes from climax, with the x changed to a ct. A climax is the top point of something, so something climactic describes that intense ….
BLUF: (Bottom Line Up Front) The plural of cliff is cliffs. cliff: a very steep, vertical, or overhanging face of rock, earth, or ice : ….
Though cite, site, and sight are often confused, if you can remember cite is short for citation and site is a location, whether it’s online ….
The noun “bit” is the part of the rein, usually made of metal, that is actually inside the mouth of the horse. The intransitive verb ….
(Things That) Make Your Editor Cry: Creeped, Crept, and, um, Crap In one of my articles, I pointed out that creeped can be the past ….