Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. Grandpa Reminisces about Homonyms He’s Crossed

Arahant
By Arahant
Arahant Member
Corporate governance, process management and change management consultant, poet, alchemist, and writer.
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Ever start thinking about a subject and have your brain reply to a thought with an eyeroll and, “Yes, Grandpa, you have told us about that before.” I was thinking about homonyms, never mind why, and thinking how they must be the bane of most writers’ existences. They are certainly mine.

Now, everyone who writes knows to watch for the common combinations. They’re the ones people get berated for most often on Farcebook and Twender. You know the ones: they’re/there/their and your/you’re/yore. (In days or you’re we used that word a lot.) But there are so many more homonyms that writers stumble over. It’s (ooh, another pair: its/it’s) just the way the brain works while we are composing a bit of text. Once we learn to type at a decent speed, the brain starts to go on semi-automatic. Pull the trigger by thinking of a word and the hands type it out. Or they type something like the word out. Usually it is a homophone.

Homonyms come in two types: homophones and homographs. (“Yes, Grandpa, we know.”) Homophones sound alike, but are spelled differently, like the metal “lead” and the action an army officer might do in the past (passed?) tense, “led.” That is opposed to homographs, which are spelled the same, but are pronounced differently. But what really can drive a writer to drink is the homophones that have homographs and vice versa. Like “read” and “read.” These two words are pronounced just like “reed” and “red.” And then there is the truly dreaded combination of desserts/deserts. Desert is actually a pair (or technically a quadruplet) of homographs. There are two related words that have the first syllable accented, such as the Gobi Desert, and there are two words that have the second syllable accented, meaning either one’s deserved reward (just deserts) or the action of getting out of the area and leaving your buds to face the music without you. Then there is the treat we have after a meal, which is spelled “dessert,” but pronounced like the latter pair of “deserts.”

Some of my favorite things that I discovered to my horror that my brain and fingers have misaligned on were typing “clamor” when I meant “clamber” and “climate” when I meant “climb it.” To be fair, the ladder* (heh, heh) was during the Great Climate Hoax of the Twenty-First Century when we heard and saw that word, climate, every day multiple times per day. Have I ever mentioned that before? (“Yes, Grandpa.”)

What are your most troublesome sets of homophones?

* Note to Editors: If you correct this spelling, the joke goes away. Don’t be that editor.

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  1. Charlotte Member
    CharlotteJoined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    RightAngles (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    RightAngles (View Comment):

    JoelB (View Comment):

    Qoumidan (View Comment):

    Raze and raise.

    Which are not only homonyms, but can be antonyms as well.

    Good one!

    There is another term out there: contranym (or contronym). It can also be known as an auto-antonym. In other words, a word that can be its own opposite. Sanction can mean to permit or to penalize.

    And handicap can be a disadvantage or an advantage.

    Cleave.

    • #91
    • May 26, 2020, at 7:26 PM PDT
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  2. Charlotte Member
    CharlotteJoined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Tree Rat (View Comment):

    CarolJoy, Above Top Secret (View Comment):

    There was a wonderful word smith who was sometimes published in the Reader’s Digest. He would write articles about the word craziness. Things like if “you put goods to be delivered in a car, you call it a shipment, but if you put it in a ship, it is cargo.” He could go on in that vein for two full pages.

    I really wish I could remember his name.

     

    Like we park in the driveway and drive on the parkway….

    Might’ve been Richard Lederer. He got lots of mileage (and dozens of books) musing about English’s many eccentricities.

    • #92
    • May 26, 2020, at 7:30 PM PDT
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  3. CarolJoy, Thread Hijacker Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Thread Hijacker

    Bethany Mandel (View Comment):

    Rein and reign

    And rain. And right as rain. Unless you pick up a pen and write about the rain.

    • #93
    • May 27, 2020, at 1:55 AM PDT
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  4. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVeyJoined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    From 2010, The Year We Make Contact:

    (Russian) This maneuver is piece of pie.

    (American, correcting his English) Cake.

    Later…

    (Russian) This is easy as cake. 

    (American, correcting his English) Pie. 

    • #94
    • May 27, 2020, at 2:48 AM PDT
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  5. Stad Coolidge
    Stad

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    I’ve been to Slovenia. I’ve been to Slavonia. But I’ve never been to Slovakia.

    You say “to-may-to”, I say “to-mah-to” . . .

    • #95
    • May 27, 2020, at 5:29 AM PDT
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  6. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    I’ve been to Slovenia. I’ve been to Slavonia. But I’ve never been to Slovakia.

    I’ve never been to any of those and didn’t know there was such a place as Slavonia. But Wikipedia agrees with you that it exists. One stop in Slovakia was part of this fall’s agenda and we were saving Slovenia for next year. If next year ever occurs maybe we could add Slavonia to the agenda.

    • #96
    • May 27, 2020, at 6:10 AM PDT
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  7. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVeyJoined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    I’ve been to Slovenia. I’ve been to Slavonia. But I’ve never been to Slovakia.

    I’ve never been to any of those and didn’t know there was such a place as Slavonia. But Wikipedia agrees with you that it exists. One stop in Slovakia was part of this fall’s agenda and we were saving Slovenia for next year. If next year ever occurs maybe we could add Slavonia to the agenda.

    Slovenia’s actually kind of nice. It was the richest, best run, most “German” part of Yugoslavia. 

    • #97
    • May 27, 2020, at 10:56 AM PDT
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  8. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    I’ve been to Slovenia. I’ve been to Slavonia. But I’ve never been to Slovakia.

    I’ve never been to any of those and didn’t know there was such a place as Slavonia. But Wikipedia agrees with you that it exists. One stop in Slovakia was part of this fall’s agenda and we were saving Slovenia for next year. If next year ever occurs maybe we could add Slavonia to the agenda.

    Slovenia’s actually kind of nice. It was the richest, best run, most “German” part of Yugoslavia.

    My surname comes from that region. It’s most common in Croatia and Slovenia, but it leaks across the border into Austria, too. We don’t know much about the great-grandfather that it came from, but he certainly spoke German, unless he married a woman who didn’t speak the same language. I suppose it’s a possibility. They didn’t stay married long.

    • #98
    • May 27, 2020, at 3:07 PM PDT
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  9. Clifford A. Brown Contributor
    Clifford A. Brown

    Do your part to share a bit of humor, dry or rich, high or low brow. Stop by and sign up for a day in “A Merry Month.” 

    Interested in Group Writing topics that came before? See the handy compendium of monthly themes. Check out links in the Group Writing Group. You can also join the group to get a notification when a new monthly theme is posted.

    • #99
    • May 30, 2020, at 12:43 PM PDT
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  10. CarolJoy, Thread Hijacker Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Thread Hijacker

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    Tree Rat (View Comment):

    CarolJoy, Above Top Secret (View Comment):

    There was a wonderful word smith who was sometimes published in the Reader’s Digest. He would write articles about the word craziness. Things like if “you put goods to be delivered in a car, you call it a shipment, but if you put it in a ship, it is cargo.” He could go on in that vein for two full pages.

    I really wish I could remember his name.

     

    Like we park in the driveway and drive on the parkway….

    Might’ve been Richard Lederer. He got lots of mileage (and dozens of books) musing about English’s many eccentricities.

    Thank you – that is him. Richard Lederer.

    • #100
    • May 30, 2020, at 9:11 PM PDT
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    • 3 likes