etymology

The difference between “peel” and “peal”

/ Erin Servais / 2 Comments

Two cartoon bananas and the words

What’s the difference between peel and peal? Peel can be used as both a noun and a verb, and peal can be used as a noun. It’s easy to get these two words confused, so read this post to learn the difference.

Definitions
peel (verb): to strip off an outer layer of
Example: Lawrence peeled the skin off of his apple.

peel (noun): the skin or rind of a fruit
Example: Becky threw her potato peels in the trash.

peal (noun): 1) the loud ringing of bells; 2) a loud sound or succession of sounds
Examples: 1) Gina heard the peal of the church bells from across town.
2) Ryan let out peals of laughter at his buddy’s lunchroom antics.

Etymology
Peel comes from the Latin word pilare, which means to remove the hair from. It came into English in the thirteenth century.

Peal is short for appeal, which in Middle English meant a summons to church service. It came into the English language in the fourteenth century.

Quiz:
Fill in the blanks with either peel or peal. The answers are below.

  1. Grace slipped on a banana _______ and broke her nose.
    2. Stan grew excited when he heard the _______ of the day’s last school bell.
    3. Grandma _______ed eight pears for the pie.
    4. ____s of loud sobs escaped from Sammy when he learned a dragon ate his cat.

 

Answers:
1. peel (noun) 2. peal 3. peel (verb) 4. peal

free author coaching session

Claim your free author coaching session here: https://www.dotanddashllc.com/coaching

What is the origin of “by Jove”?

/ Erin Servais / Leave a comment

starry sky and the words "by Jove"

Have you heard of “by Jove” (or as it is sometimes incorrectly said, “by Joe”)? Today, we’re going to talk about the origins of “by Jove” so you, too, can sound all fun and old-timey.

“By Jove” is an exclamation to show surprise or express emphasis.

Example: By Jove, I think he’s got it!

“By Jove” entered our language in the late fourteenth century as a way to refer to Jupiter. At this point in time, they were not talking about the planet, but rather the Roman god, Jupiter (whom the Greeks called “Zeus”).

Jove/Jupiter was the Roman god of the sky, who had power over both gods and men. To show his wrath, he would throw thunderbolts. (You didn’t want to make him angry.)

In the fourteenth century, when the English started saying “by Jove,” it was a way to say “my god” or “good god” without blaspheming the Christian god.

Shakespeare used this expression in Love’s Labors Lost in 1588: “By Jove, I always took three threes for nine.”

Erin Servais is the founder of Dot and Dash, LLC, an author-services company focusing on women writers and offering a range of editing, coaching, and social media packages.

Sign up for the Dot and Dash newsletter to get writing tips and tricks and exclusive deals.  

Follow Dot and Dash on social media.
Twitter: @GrammarParty
Instagram: @dot_and_dash_llc
Facebook: facebook.com/dotanddashllc
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/dotanddashllc

 

Rack vs. Wrack

/ Erin Servais / Leave a comment
a very old wrecked ship sitting on sand

The shipwreck wracked the vessel.

What’s the difference between rack and wrack? Let’s take a look at their definitions, how to use them in popular phrases, and a mnemonic device to help you remember which is which.

Rack as a verb means “to torture or cause great suffering.”
Example: Her anxiety racked her mind.

Have you ever heard of the medieval torture device called the rack? It was a wooden frame with a crank attached to it. When a person was placed on the rack, the torturer would crank the device, stretching the person’s limbs until they dislocated them. Sounds like fun times.

Anyway, that’s where we get this usage of rack. And when we use it, we signify torturing, especially stretching.

Wrack as a verb means “to wreck or ruin something.”
Example: They sat back as they watched pollution wrack their planet.

Wrack comes from a word meaning “to be shipwrecked.” Both of these words have pretty gloomy origins, don’t they?

Now let’s go over a couple common phrases using one of these words.

Rack your brain
When you rack your brain, you are thinking really hard, stretching your brain’s capabilities. This idea of stretching is why we use rack instead of wrack.

Example: I really racked my brain studying for my chemistry final.

Nerve-racking
Something that is nerve-racking tortures your nerves. This idea of torturing is why we use rack instead of wrack.

Example: I found studying for my chemistry final nerve-racking.

Similar meanings
It’s true that rack and wrack have very similar uses. This is why some dictionaries, such as Merriam-Webster, are advocating for using the words interchangeably and treating them as spelling variants.

Mnemonic device
To remember the difference between rack and wrack think: wrack = wreck. They are only one letter off.

Erin Servais is the founder of Dot and Dash, LLC, an author-services company focusing on women writers and offering a range of editing, coaching, and social media packages.

Sign up for the Dot and Dash newsletter to get writing tips and tricks and exclusive deals.  

Follow Dot and Dash on social media.
Twitter: @GrammarParty
Instagram: @dot_and_dash_llc
Facebook: facebook.com/dotanddashllc
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/dotanddashllc

free author coaching session

Claim your free author coaching session here: https://www.dotanddashllc.com/coaching

Portmanteau: Definition + Examples

/ Erin Servais / Leave a comment
Scrabble tiles with the word "portmanteaus" overtop them

Portmanteaus are words that blend two or more words together.

A portmanteau is when two or more words blend together to make a new word. Often, this new word fills a void in the lexicon. For example, people needed a name for the pollution that clings to city skies. So they came up with smog, which is a mashup of smoke and fog.

Spork is another neat one. Is there really a better term to describe that combo spoon and fork found in school cafeterias across the nation?

In both smog and spork, the two words used to form the portmanteau help describe the new word, which is a quality of portmanteaus.

Also, most of us are familiar with these terms and may recognize that they are portmanteaus, perhaps because they are newer to our vocabulary. However, there are many older words that we may not recognize are indeed portmanteaus. A few of my favorites are bash (bang + smash), flounder (flounce + blunder), and meld (melt + weld).

 

List of portmanteaus
Here’s a list of portmanteaus. Some are pretty funny (glob); some are more well known (motel); and some are so rooted in our language that many may not be aware they even are portmanteaus (pixel). Enjoy!

portmanteau combination of
advertorial advertisement + editorial
alphanumeric alphabetic + numeric
bash bang + smash
bionic biology + electronic
biopic biographical + picture
blog web + log
bodacious bold + audacious
breathalyzer breath + analyzer
carjack car + hijack
Chunnel channel + tunnel
cyborg cybernetic + organism
dumbfound dumb + confound
emoticon emotion + icon
flounder flounce + blunder
genome gene + chromosome
glitz glamour + ritz
glob gob + blob
guesstimate guess + estimate
hazmat hazard + material
intercom internal + communication
internet international + network
malware malicious + software
meld melt + weld
modem modulator + demodulator
motel motor + hotel
motorcade motor + cavalcade
newscast news + broadcast
paratrooper parachute + trooper
pixel picture + element
prissy prim + sissy
pulsar pulsating + star
quasar quasistellar + radio
simulcasting simultaneous + broadcasting
sitcom situation + comedy
skort skirt + short
smog smoke + fog
spork spoon + fork
telethon telephone + marathon
transponder transmitter + responder
wifi wireless + fidelity

Make your own portmanteaus
In my research, I discovered a super cool website, called Portmanteaur, where you can create your own portmanteaus. Simply enter a couple words into the text box and—voila—a list of portmanteaus of your words appear. (It’s magic.)

Let me know what portmanteaus you make in the comments.

This post was written by Erin Servais of Dot and Dash, an author-services company focusing on women authors.

Sign up for the Dot and Dash newsletter to get writing tips and tricks and exclusive deals.  Sign up here.

Follow Dot and Dash on social media.
Twitter: @GrammarParty
Instagram: @dot_and_dash_llc
Facebook: facebook.com/dotanddashllc
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/dotanddashllc

Dot and Dash Social Media Content Calendar

Click here and never worry about coming up with social-media posts again: https://www.etsy.com/listing/766512443/on-sale-social-media-content-calendar

Bald-Faced, Bold-Faced, or Barefaced Lie?

/ Erin Servais / Leave a comment

Woman's mouth and the text: Lies! Lies! Lies!

What do you call a major lie, one told with total disregard for anyone who might be affected by it? You’ve got a few options. You could call it a barefaced lie, a bald-faced lie, or a bold-faced lie. All of these are technically correct and mean basically the same thing, but bald-faced is, according to Merriam-Webster, “the preferred term in published, edited text.”

Barefaced has been used to describe lies and liars since the 19th century. Bald-faced, meanwhile, emerged in the mid-20th century. Both terms mean an open, unconcealed lie told with no concern for the truth and with an additional implication of rudeness.

The term bold-faced has been around since the 16th century, but it started to be used in this context around the end of the 20th century. It’s possible that the emergence of bold-faced as a modifier for lies and liars corresponds to the increase in the use of bold-faced text during this period.

Barefaced, bald-faced, and bold-faced are all grammatically correct ways to describe lies. Most people don’t use barefaced anymore, and of the remaining two options, the preferred, professional term is bald-faced. Now that’s the truth!

 

This post was written by Maud Grauer. She is a content creator for Dot and Dash. You can read more of her writing on the Dot and Dash blog: www.dotanddashllc.com/blog

Follow Dot and Dash on social media.
Twitter: @GrammarParty
Instagram: @dot_and_dash_llc
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dotanddashllc
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/dotanddashllc

free author coaching session

Claim your free author coaching session here: https://www.dotanddashllc.com/coaching