Rogue Words from A to Z: Endeavouring to Push the Envelope

April 6, 2015April 5, 2015Sue Archer 61 Comments

Special delivery! Here comes another rogue word for us to rip apart: envelope.

The word envelope is derived from the French word enveloppe (from envelopper, which means to envelop).

There are a number of difficulties in spelling this tricky word. Native French speakers often struggle with envelope in English because it has one p rather than two. But even native English speakers can have trouble: namely, understanding when to use envelope and when to use envelop.

Envelope (with an e, pronounced Ehn-vuh-LOPE or Ahn-vuh-LOPE) is a noun meaning a wrapper or enclosure. When applied to aircraft or other technology, it means a set of accepted performance limits. This is where we get the phrase “pushing the envelope.”

The explorers were excited when the new spacecraft was completed. They hoped to push the envelope of space exploration during their upcoming voyage.

Envelop (without the e, pronounced ehn-VEH-lup) is a verb meaning to completely enclose or surround something. Like many other verbs, -ed is added to the end when it is used in the past tense (enveloped).

The black velvet night enveloped the explorers’ spacecraft as they sped away from the Earth to a faraway galaxy.

For several years, Earth heard nothing from the brave pioneers. The head of the Space Exploration Agency felt as if he were enveloped in despair. His daughter had insisted on joining the outbound team, and now she was lost to him. He wondered why he even bothered to come in to the office any more.

Then one day he walked in and discovered a strangely glowing envelope on his desk. He carefully opened it up and read the words, “We made it, Dad!”

There was a blaze of warm light, and he felt his daughter’s arms envelop him in an enormous hug.

Bonus Word: Endeavour

Endeavour is another tricky word to spell.

To help you remember the “ea” part of endeavour, think of yourself as an explorer going “full speed ahead” on an endeavour. Ahead has an “ea” combination just like the “ea” in endeavour.

Endeavour is also tricky because the ending is spelled -our in British English and -or in American English. Even NASA had trouble getting this one sorted out.

Which spelling do you prefer, endeavor or endeavour? And where will you go exploring today?

***

Picture of space shuttle Endeavour from NASA

This post is dedicated to Celine Jeanjean, Naturelover, and Nicole De Courval. Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, where I will flatten the formidable letter F…

Rogue Words from A to Z: Don’t Be Defiant, It’s Definitely Limiting

April 4, 2015April 3, 2015Sue Archer 81 Comments

Did you know that definitely is the most misspelled word in the English language?

One of the most common ways to misspell definitely is to use an “a” where there should be an “i” and write the word as definately. This is an easy mistake to make. When we pronounce the word definitely out loud, we make an “uh” sound on the third syllable (called a schwa): def-in-uht-ly. Since the “uh” sound is often spelled with an “a,” it makes sense that definitely should have an “a.” It doesn’t. But then, when has the English language ever made sense?

When people are really confused, they write the word defiantly, which won’t get flagged in your spellcheck because it’s a real word. It comes from the verb “to defy.”

Definitely, on the other hand, comes from the word “finite,” which means to be bound by something or to have limits.

And this is the key thing for you to remember if you want to spell definitely correctly: it comes from the word “finite.” De-finite-ly.

To help you remember this, I have written a very short story.

The Tale of the Defiant Jerk, Whose Time On This Earth Was Limited

Once upon a time, there was a guy who decided that this was the day he was going to win the nuclear pie-eating contest. His girlfriend told him he was being foolish.

He said to her defiantly, “I can break the record. Those other people have limited willpower, and I am the king of contests.”

“No, you can’t,” she said. “It’s no good trying to defy nature. The size of your stomach is finite. It’s been proven definitively. It’s de-finite-ly true.”

But he ate the pie anyway, because he knew he was defin-ate-ly right.

And exploded.

He destroyed an infinite number of planets. What a jerk.

I guess his intelligence was finite, too.

Definitely.

***

This post is dedicated to Pat Sponaugle and Nicole Roder. Thanks for reading!

Image from Wikimedia Commons

For further reading on definitely, please check out these links:

Common Errors in English Usage: Definate

Time For A New Year’s Resolution? Definately? Defiantly? Definitely!

Stay tuned for Monday’s post, where I will endeavour to entrap the elusive letter E…

Rogue Words from A to Z: The Cruelty of Crullers

April 3, 2015March 31, 2015Sue Archer 96 Comments

Have you ever been certain you knew the right way to spell a word, and then found out you were wrong?

For A-Z, I was asked about the proper spelling of my favourite type of doughnut: cruller or crueller?

My first reaction was to say, “Crueller, of course!” I have been eating honey cruellers (sometimes know as French cruellers) at my local doughnut shop since forever, and the shop always spells it as crueller.

Here’s the proof, in case you doubt me…

Imagine my surprise when I looked this up online and found that the dictionaries spell this marvelous mouthful as cruller.

Merriam-Webster tells us that cruller comes from the Dutch word krulle, a twisted cake, from krul, which means curly. I then went on to find out that Dutch immigrants were involved in the creation of the modern American doughnut.

If cruller is correct, I thought, why do I keep seeing cruellers in some (but not all) of the doughnut shops?

The easiest explanation is that Homer Simpson has been at the time-travelling toaster again and keeps changing history. In one universe it’s cruller, in another it’s crueller, and in a third it’s simply known as rain. Too bad Homer (and the rest of us) didn’t get to stay in that last universe. Those Simpsons writers are just plain cruel.

simpsons-treehouse-of-horrors-time-punishment

“It’s raining again.”

I’ve since found a better explanation. It turns out that crueller is the proper spelling in Pennsylvania Dutch country. They even have types of cruellers I’ve never heard of, like a coconut crueller. Mmmm…

So it turns out that both of these spellings are correct. Now I can focus on enjoying the sweet taste.

***

Image of crueller is mine; Rain of donuts is from The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror V story “Time and Punishment”

This post is dedicated to Jaso, a fellow lover of cruellers.

What’s your favourite doughnut? And do you spell it as doughnut or donut?

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, where I will demolish the dastardly letter D…

Rogue Words from A to Z: Braying About Braids

April 2, 2015April 2, 2015Sue Archer 60 Comments

It’s amazing how many vowel combinations can be used to make the same sound. Take the long “a” sound, for example. This sound can be written using ay, ai, ey, ei, or a/consonant/silent e. Then there are the exceptions. I salute anyone who takes on English as a second language, because it’s a mess.

There are a lot of these tricky words, but I’ve been asked to talk about the word braid. How do you remember how to spell braid? With the help of Shrek, naturally.

Who would you rather be – Princess Fiona or Donkey?

(I really hope you said Fiona.)

And here she is, folks…

Whether Fiona looks like a human or an ogre, she’s got wonderful hair. Her hair is often styled in a rope braid. A rope braid consists of two strands of hair wrapped around each other. If a braid has at least three strands, it can be called a plait. Fiona likes to plait her hair into a braid. Both of these words make the long “a” sound using ai. (Just like the word hair.) So think about Fiona plaiting her hair, and you will remember how to spell braid.

Note: If you’d rather be Donkey instead, you will be remembered as a creature with bad hair who constantly brayed at everyone. Instead of showing off your beautful plait, you will be tempted by waffles on a plate and will force your friends to have to rescue you from your idiocy.

So please be Fiona, and enjoy your braid.

***

Update: Given all the discussion on this post, I’ve updated the definitions of plait and braid, to avoid any confusion. 🙂

Image of Fiona from Shrek

This post is dedicated to Nicole De Courval. Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, where I will chase after the cruel letter C…

Rogue Words from A to Z: Abracadabra! Addressing Affect vs. Effect

April 1, 2015March 31, 2015Sue Archer 69 Comments

Welcome to A to Z! To kick off my alphabet series on rogue words, I’m addressing the many magical properties of the words affect and effect. These slippery tricksters can give us all sorts of spelling grief.

The most important thing to remember is that affect with an “a” is usually a verb, while effect with an “e” is usually a noun. Let’s look at these most common usages first.

Affect as a Verb

One meaning of affect is “to pretend, feign, or assume a characteristic.”

Albert the magician affected an air of confidence as he prepared to cast, but in truth, his insides were trembling.

The second (and most common) meaning of affect is “to influence or have an effect on.”

More than anything, Albert wanted his spell to affect the red-haired woman in the front row. He yearned to hear her declare her undying love for him.

Effect as a Noun

There are three main ways that effect is used as a noun.

One usage is the bizarre term “personal effects” to describe the things you keep in your purse or pockets.

Esmeralda wondered why the magician had needed one of her personal effects to perform a simple stage illusion.

Another meaning comes up a lot in stage work and movies:

As the magician waved his wand and chanted some words, Esmeralda waited for all the sound and light effects to kick in. Nothing happened.

The most common meaning of effect is “result or consequence.” Affecting something means you have an influence on it (like a magician’s influence on another person). The result of this influence is an effect (like a declaration of love). Which brings us to…

Albert looked expectantly at the woman to see the effect of his spell.

Affect as a Noun

Let’s look at the unusual case where affect is a noun. In psychology, affect is used to describe someone’s emotional state.

The red-haired woman’s affect had changed, but it wasn’t lustful happiness — more like terminal boredom.

Effect as a Verb

And finally, effect can be a verb that means “to bring about or produce.”

Albert was dismayed to find that his spell had not effected the change he had wanted. Instead, his stage rabbit jumped up and began to compulsively nibble on his ear.

The moral of the story?

Affect is almost always a verb, which has an effect that is a noun. To remember the rest, just think about Albert and Esmeralda.

And don’t give strange magicians any of your personal effects.

Bonus Word: Address

Since I am addressing affect vs. effect, it makes sense for me to talk about address, which can be difficult to spell. Think of add + dress – the first has two “d”s, and the second has two “s”s. Put them together and you have address.

Esmeralda was not going to add that magician’s name to her address book. Not only was he an awful magician — he was terribly dressed. And that rabbit accessory sure wasn’t helping.

***

This post is dedicated to Nicole de Courval and Olivia Berrier.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Definitions are from Garner’s Modern American Usage, with some help from the site Common Errors in English Usage

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, where I will blindside the bothersome letter B…

The Hunt for Rogue Words is Officially On: A to Z Blogging Challenge

January 26, 2015January 26, 2015Sue Archer 25 Comments

Today I have officially signed up for the 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge! As many of you know, I have decided to write about rogue words and how to deal with them. Thank you to all of you who have already provided me with your challenging words.

If you missed my call for words, it’s not too late. I am still looking for words starting with C, G, H, M, N, O, Q, and R. I can pick my own tricky words, but I’d rather hear from you! So if you have a word you’d like me to tackle, please feel free to add it below or on my original rogue words post.