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Eggcorn hunt
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Sunday is Easter, and in honor of the holiday, we’re doing something a little different this week. We can’t take you on an egg hunt, but we can take you on an eggcorn hunt. Longtime readers of this newsletter might remember eggcorns, which are misinterpretations of common phrases. One example is writing “per say” instead of “per se.” So how many eggcorns are in the following paragraph? He had a deep-seeded fear of jellyfish, so she knew the postponement of the scuba diving trip was, for all intensive purposes, a cancellation. She quickly began pouring over travel guides to find another way to spend their time off. How many eggcorns did you spot? Hit reply and let us know. ❤ Team Stylebot
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Hone your writing skills and never use "hone in" again. Get writing tips, have fun with words and learn something new in a one-minute read each week by signing up for Stylebot’s newsletter.
Most of you didn't fall for it in last week's quiz, but you might say "infamous" is infamous for being misused. Or it might just be famous. Either way, we were impressed with last week's quiz results, with more than 63% of you answering correctly: So if the words famous and infamous aren't interchangeable, what's the difference? "Famous" simply means widely known, while "infamous" means being known for something bad (aka, famous with a bad rap). However, a lot of people seem to use "infamous"...
Happy Friday! Our writing quiz is back from summer break this week. And we don't know if we would go so far as to describe it as famous (😜), but would you call it infamous? You almost certainly know what "famous" means. But can you pinpoint "infamous"? Here's your shot: She became __________ after becoming the youngest person to win three Olympic gold medals. famous infamous Either option is fine Oh, and we heard from some of you after last week's newsletter with more examples of...
If you thought we only started using slang abbreviations on the internet, think again. You might use "lol" mostly in text messages now, but if the history of "OK" is any lesson, one day it might not be a KG to use it in more formal writing. Confused? We'll explain, but first we'll note that many of you seem to be familiar with OK's origin. It's not a typo: "OK" evolved from the phrase "all correct." In late 1830s slang, it was fashionable to misspell common phrases and use those...