Posts by Don Hauptman

Here is more proof, if any is needed, that proofreaders and copy editors don’t always catch every error. I found all the following examples recently in major national publications. “But worse, it always gets my shackles up when someone tells me I can’t do something.” The word shackles refers to handcuffs or other sorts of…

I never run out of examples of word pairs that are commonly confused.

Here’s another roundup of doppelganger words that are often confused. I encountered all of these misuses in my routine reading:

In honor of April Fool’s Day, let’s look once again at the lighter side of language. You’ve surely heard, or perhaps even committed, a spoonerism – the exchange, often accidental, of the initial letters or sounds of two words, which results in a surprising and funny new meaning. For instance, one might intend to say “It’s time to leave the house” but inadvertently say “It’s time to heave the louse.”

It’s easy to imagine how this ambiguity might result in confusion. Understanding whether something is happening now or will occur later could be important. So it’s best to avoid the word entirely and substitute now, currently, or at present. These alternatives are simpler and clearer. In communication, that’s always a good thing.