Does Your Grammar Jibe or Gibe or Jive With Mine? by Carol Ross



Oh, English, you are the reigning (but not the reining and raining) queen of perplexing languages!


Your and you’re, accept and except, there and their and they’re, affect and effect, etc. Yes, it makes me cringe, too. The list of commonly misused and confused words is long and all too familiar. Because we all know the correct way to use these words, and yet most of us will still get them wrong occasionally, right? (Grateful for my editors who pick up these errors in my manuscripts!) But what about those word usage mistakes that are maybe a bit less common? To the point that we wonder if they're acceptable? As a reader, I find these "mistakes" distracting and frustrating and often downright funny. As a writer, I find them mortifying and horrifying but also still pretty funny.  

Here’s my list (in no particular order) of some less common word misuses that are worth pondering.

Floor vs. ground – Can these be used interchangeably? Maybe they can, but to me, when you’re indoors the ground is the floor. 

Roof vs. ceiling – Again, when you’re indoors, you look up at the ceiling. A few days ago, I read a passage in a book where the light bulb in the basement was hanging from the roof. This one gave me a chuckle and a head scratch. (But also, the idea for this post. So, yay for “mistakes.”)

Animal feet – Okay, guilty. I'm not sure if this one truly counts as a misuse, but I once called a horse’s hoof a foot. (Many thanks to Melinda Curtis for catching it when reading one of my Christmas Town novellas.) Technically, anatomically speaking, it is correct in that horses do have feet. And since I made this “mistake,” I’ve read it in books many times. But the experience converted me. I think a more concise description is better – paws, claws, talons, hooves, pincers, or whatever. Call those furry feet by their fancy species-specific names!


That's some fancy hoof-work right there!


Couldn’t care less or could care less – If you could care less, then you’ve still got some feelings buried in there. When what you really mean is you could NOT possibly care any less about Carol’s grammar peeves than you do at this moment.  

Home in or hone in –  Meaning to focus or zoom in on something. It’s home in, people! This phrase originates from the homing pigeon days where the pigeons would, well, home in. Hone means to sharpen or polish. However, when I googled it, I discovered that it’s one of those phrases that is so often misused that “hone in” is beginning to be acceptable. I promise it’s home in. Please, use it this way. Don’t be part of the problem.

Jibe or jive or gibe – Bottom line jive is music. A gibe is a mocking joke or taunt. And jibe means to agree, mesh with, or sync as in, “This doesn’t jibe with the information we received.” (This one is a bit more complex because a “gibe” is sometimes spelled “jibe.” And jibe is also a sailing term. For a more thorough explanation google it or check out this informative post: https://bit.ly/31mWbK5 

Thankful for my beta readers and editors who do not not care less!

The funny thing is, I know I’m probably using plenty of others that I haven’t listed. So, please, enlighten me! Share your favorite and funniest word misuses. (Or maybe not so favorite and not so funny?)

For more information about Carol Ross, including a complete list of her Heartwarming novels, please visit her website: www.carolrossauthor.com

Comments

  1. Thanks for clarifying those animal "feet." I think of jive as also having to do with a certain kind of nonsense--people tease or taunt others for talking jive. That takes me back a long way. Lately, I've heard anchors and commentators on radio and TV use "less" when they really mean "fewer." They'll say something about less people attending an event than expected, rather than fewer. I always think of my parents cringing over that. Or, heaven forbid, if I were to ever say "infer" when I really mean "imply." I guess I have no choice but to surrender to impact as a verb and something being "impacted," and it's not a tooth! Great post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Virginia! Also a good definition for jive. I think the various spellings and uses of this word causes added confusion. I'm chuckling about your parents cringing over the incorrect usage of few and less. My parents were also sticklers about good grammar and spelling. Unfortunately, I know exactly what you mean about "surrendering." When I researched this topic, I was shocked to discover how many "wrong" terms and words have become acceptable over time. Unacceptable! (In my opinion. :)

      Delete
  2. Hi, Carol!! I’m by no means perfect when it comes to using words correctly, but I have to admit that I get thoroughly peeved about there, they’re and their. Also, your and you’re. (There’s a hilarious Bitmoji that yells YOU’RE with the RE underlined. It’s so funny!! It’s hard to put it into words but you’d crack up if you saw it.) I’m a little frightened by the misuse of words today. It’s quite distracting and I often wonder if children are being taught these basic skills in school.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Laurie! I'm definitely not perfect either. But I try, and I'm always eager to learn. And I have no problem when someone sets me straight when I use a word or phrase incorrectly. Although, I realize not everyone loves words like we do. :) I agree that bad grammar is very distracting. It can pull me right out of a story.

      Delete
  3. I really enjoyed this post Carol and now know the difference between ‘could care less’ and ‘couldn’t care less’ thanks to,you! Two misuses I see often, even in newspapers, are ‘lie’ and ‘lay’. My high school English teacher drilled it into us. A person ‘lays’ something down (so an object) but may ‘lie’ down for a nap (so no object). Their past tenses really confuse people: lay, laid, laid AND lie, lay , lain. As a former teacher, I know grammar is seldom formally taught anymore. Pity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's funny how different ones bother different people, isn't it? For some reason, that one really gets to me. I remember struggling with lie and lay back in school. Sounds like you had an awesome English teacher. I don't understand why grammar isn't taught like it used to be. Some things are just not okay! (Does that make me sound like an oldie or what? Lol)

      Delete
  4. My pet peeves is the death of the adverb. In print, I believe someone has calculated how much ink they'll save by dropping the 'ly'. I don't know what the news reporters and sportscasters use as an excuse. The summer did not go by quick, it went quickly. The batter did not hit bad, he maybe a bad batter, but he hit the ball badly. No grammar and no cursive writing any more in school.......now I am showing my age!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ooh, the "death of the adverb," that's a good one! You could write an entire post on that. I also dislike how social media makes it acceptable to be sloppy with grammar and language. So frustrating. How's that for showing some age? Lol.

      Delete
  5. Love this, Carol. I fuss with all those you mentioned, and still often get them wrong. I always have to look up compliment or complement. Technically a hoof is a toenail, so the horse's foot would be the part above the hoof. I think. I had a long discussion with my kids over "You've got another think coming." They thought it was "thing."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Beth! Yes, I read this about horse's hooves. I found the whole toenail thing fascinating. I think foot is perfectly acceptable, I just like the descriptive nature of hoof and other species-specific appendages. Lol. And I CANNOT believe I forgot to include "You've got another think/thing coming!" Thank you for bringing it up. This one drives me nuts to the point where I want to be "that person" and correct people mid-conversation.

      Delete
  6. Such a great post. I guess I don't worry as much about some things that may be technically miss used due to different parts of the country. I once read a book, but can't recall the name, I also passed it on. But it was about how words migrated across the U.S. It had how words changed and some kept the same meaning. Fun topic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Roz! Interesting point. This book sounds like it would be right up my alley. (Now I'm going to have to look up the origin of that one :) If you remember the title, please pass it on!

      Delete
  7. What a fun post! It's funny how sayings change according to the areas where the speaker lives. The one that gives me the hardest time is effect vs. affect. I NEVER get those right!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi LeAnne! Thank you. Regional differences are very interesting. I like to read books set in other places, and countries, for this reason. For some reason, I love English (as in England) sayings. I think affect and effect makes all the lists. That's an easy one to mess up on.

      Delete
  8. I actually have trouble with sit and set, too, although I'm good at lay and lie. There are some, like affect and effect, that I just try not to use! A great post, Carol.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I laughed at your post, Carol, because I make so many grammatical mistakes and the better I think I get as a writer, the more mistakes I uncover! My first post for this blog had a mistake that my brother (also a writer) caught for me. I wrote "sneak peak" instead of "sneak peek". Thanks, bro! Also, not a grammatical mistake, but as a pet peeve I use the word "just" too often. "He just couldn't stand it." "She just wanted some more time." On my first revision of a book, "just" is one of many words I search for and eliminate!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment