You Keep Using That Word/Very Pedantic: Difference between revisions

* '''Subliminal''' simply means "Below the threshold of sensation or consciousness": said of states supposed to exist but not strong enough to be recognized.

* '''Sycophant''' is an ancient Greek term for "informer" and "public accuser". They would expose the crimes of others to the authorities and be rewarded with a fee. By the 5th century BC, [[Aristophanes]]' comedies point to this having become a profession and practitioners caring little of the truth behind their accusations. Thus it gained the meaning (retained in Greek) of a false accuser, a slanderer. The English meanings of "flatterer", "bootlicker", are only loosely associated with the original meaning, by application to a hanger-on who curries favor with one person by denigrating others.

** And they most certainly aren't [[House of the Dead|undead flesh-eating mermen]].

* The word '''earth''' means soil. The planet is "''E''arth".

* '''Mystic''' and '''mystical''' are not the same thing. '''Mystic''' means "of hidden or symbolic meaning, especially in religion". '''Mystical''' means "of mystics or mysticism". "The mystic crystal ball" is correct, "the mystical crystal ball" is not, unless said crystal ball is used by mystics. Technically '''mystical''' also means "having spiritual meaning, value, or symbolism", so the crystal ball could be called "mystical" if it had spiritual value.

* '''Eke out'''. If Jane Austen says "the vicar ekes out a meager living by beekeeping," she doesn't mean he lives on nothing but the pittance that the bees bring him: she means the beekeeping supplements his inadequate stipend. (''Eke'' still occasionally means 'also'.)

* An '''acronym''' is an initialism which forms a word, such as "laser" ('''l'''ight '''a'''mplification by '''s'''timulated '''e'''mission of '''r'''adiation), or "amphetamine" ('''a'''lpha-'''m'''ethyl-'''ph'''en'''et'''hyl'''amine''')<ref>Note:An initialism does not need to be composed ''entirely'' of initials; it can contain word fragments or whole words. See [[wikipedia:Initialism|The Other Wiki]] for more information</ref>. This distinction is commonly ignored; [[The BBC]] and ''[[British Newspapers|The Guardian]]'' are just two mainstream media outlets who are happy to use "acronym" as though it were synonymous with "initialism".

* '''Due''' is an adjective, and needs a noun to modify. In the sentence "There is chaos due to misunderstandings," ''due'' modifies ''chaos'', not the whole clause ''there is chaos''. Thus, some of us hyper-pedants would prefer that ''due to'' not be used in place of ''because of''.