Common Mistakes

There are some words which suffer terrible abuse from writers. Frequently, marketing consultants pick these poor, defenceless pieces of text out of a dark, slimy part of their brain and dump them onto paper. There, the words are slapped around and told that they have new meanings or are forced to wear the horrible, fluorescent pink and green “Operation Buzzword” uniform.

In an attempt to help these over-worked, under-appreciated little pixel pals, Wordophilia proudly presents the real definitions and usages of some of the more battered among them.

Unique: one of a kind. Cannot be qualified – in other words, an object cannot be ‘very unique’ or ‘quite unique’ – it is either unique or it is not. No middle ground.

Irrespective: without regard for. Ugly and over-used. You’re better off with the far more handsome ‘regardless’.

Perfect: without flaw. Another absolute, like unique. Something is either perfect or it is not: there is no “very perfect”. Often used to express a liking for something (‘almost perfect for me’ and the like), but is better replaced with more expressive words.

Capitol: a building where the state legislature meets. The Capitol (with a capital) is the one in Washington, D.C. (which is the capital).

etc.: et cetera, literally ‘and the others’ or ‘and the rest’ (yes, I studied Latin and yes, it should have a period after it). Horribly abused when writers run out of examples. This abbreviation should never appear at the end of a phrase which starts “for example”: that’s a total cop-out. Give a few examples and end the phrase. Should also never be used mid-sentence.

Worthwhile: returns value for the time spent. Should only be used before a verb, as it is a measure of the value of an action. “A worthwhile film” is an impossibility: the film makes worthwhile viewing, perhaps. Few people will complain about this one, except poor little Worthwhile herself. She really hates that pink-and-green suit.

Literally: in a strict sense. “He arrived home and was literally dead from exhaustion” is a phrase to end a novel, since the character is no longer living. Modern usage allows the variation of meaning to include “virtually” or “almost”, but many people consider this incorrect. Find another expression to use.

Peruse: read thoroughly and carefully. Frequently misused in the place of “skim”, which is appropriate for reading a document quickly. “Scan”, bizarrely, can have both meanings.

Could care less: an expression rather than a word. This one always amuses me: “I could care less,” they say. Well, that’s good – it shows they are at least a little interested. If they’d said “I couldn’t care less”, I’d have been upset.

[Originally published on www.wordophilia.com]