Month: May 2008

“Mingaling”

Verbs

My wife saw this on a sign in a high-school attendance office.

Problem:
The verb is a horrible corruption of a good one.

Explanation:
The sign directed visitors in the office to not congregate there.

You might have to say this aloud a few times to get it.

The sign writer meant “mingling” when she wrote “mingaling” instead.

I believe that the writer hears three syllables when she or others (mis)pronounce the correct verb.

So she spelled it phonetically and got “mingaling” — hilarious, if it weren’t so sad!

Solution:
“Mingling”

“Determinate” vs. “Determinant”

Adjectives, Common English Blunders, Mispronunciations, Nouns, Verbs, Versus

I sometimes hear these two words used interchangeably.

Problem:
These two words are not synonyms.

Explanation:
The primary definition of the word “determinate” as a verb is to make certain of. The primary definition of the word “determinate” as an adjective is having defined limits.

The primary definition of the word “determinant” as a noun is a determining agent. The primary definition of the word “determinant” as an adjective is having the power of deciding.

I believe that these words most often are used interchangeably because of sloppy pronunciation.

Solution:
When using each of these words as an adjective, think having defined limits for “determinate” and having the power of deciding for ” determinant”.

“It wasn’t something I pre-planned.”

Common English Blunders, Redundancies

I heard this a couple of days ago while watching a History Channel program on the Ark of the Covenant.

Problem:
The verb “pre-planned” is a nonsense word.

Explanation:
The “pre” in “pre-planned” is redundant, just as the “back” in “return back” is redundant.

To plan something is to do think about something before it occurs.

The “pre” prefix also means before.

It makes no sense to think about something before before.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following words (with the quotation marks) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • “planned” — 155,000,000 matches
  • “pre-planned” — 1,400,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors have avoided this “pre-” redundancy by a ratio of almost 111:1, which is good but not great, especially in light of over one million(!) “pre-planned” matches.

Solution:
“It wasn’t something I planned.”