McWriters

I keep seeing these two words being used incorrectly and it’s frustrating! Lose and loose aren’t even homophones (two or more words pronounced alike, yet are different in spelling, derivation, or meaning such as their, there, and they’re).
So, just for the record, here are two quick definitions for lose and loose.
Lose – to not win, [...]

In the past couple of days (perhaps a bit longer), I have come across two interesting words that I want to delve into a bit more here in the blog. They are:
Brooches (commonly misspelled as ‘broaches’)
Lavalier
Both of these words are used in the jewelry industry. However, lavalier is mostly associated with microphones these days.
Anyhow, [...]

Gauche: awkward or clumsy, lacking social graces
“His attempts at humor weren’t funny; they were gauche.”
In modern French, the word gauche means “left” which derived indirectly from the Latin word “sinistra” meaning left-handed.
This is an intriguing word to me for several reasons:

I’m left handed. I don’t think I’m awkward, clumsy, or lacking in social graces though. [...]

English is a quirky language. However, it often lends itself to interesting discoveries because of the diversity it contains. While I was in college, I took a course entitled, “The History of the English Language.” Yes, on the surface it may sound dull and boring but it was really quite the opposite. I enjoyed learning [...]

I made a list of my favorite words, so I thought I’d do the same with my least favorite words and phrases.

Taxes. Not much explanation needed.
Insurance
Credit. As in credit cards. I hate them.
Politics
Consequences. If you choose poorly, you have [...]

There, their, they’re
Your, you’re
Here, hear
We, wee
Add, ad
Tea, tee
Ate, eight
Seas, sees, seize
Mall, maul
Awl, all
Aye, eye, I
Flair, flare
Lone, loan
Sail, sale
Stair, stare
Minor, miner
Tacks, tax
Tale, tail
Heel, heal, he’ll
Hymn, him
Heroin, heroine
Sole, soul
Write, right, rite
Medal, Metal, Meddle
Seam, seem

The list goes on and on. The mistakes people make with them seems endless too.

If you simply rely on your computer’s spell checker to [...]