In the same week I noticed two mix-ups of the words demure and demur:
"The costumes ranged from the demur to the over-the-top." - Coachella Valley Weekly
"But ask him about it and he'll demure." - Reader's Digest (!)
Demure (dəˈmyo͝or), usually describing a woman, is an adjective meaning reserved, modest and shy.
Demur (dəˈmər) is a verb, meaning to raise doubts or objections or show reluctance, or a noun meaning the action or process of objecting to or hesitating over something. "They accepted the judge's decision without demur."
Other recent sightings:
"Chocked full" instead of "chock-full," meaning full to the limit.
"Peels of laughter," from the Hollywood Reporter, presumably not referring to someone doing a pratfall on a banana skin...Otherwise, it's peals of laughter.
In ScienceDaily, a reference to something being superior than, rather than superior to...
From our usual rich source, USA Today: "A video that shows he and Kate MacKinnon being transformed..." (instead of "a video that shows him and Kate McKinnon..."). My old English teacher gave a very useful tip: if unsure, try saying it without the second individual and see if it sounds right. You wouldn't say "A video that shows he being transformed." Thank you, Mrs. Drake.
And of course it wouldn't be a "Write it right" post without a sighting of our old favorite:
Yes, it's that shifty mountain again. Note to copywriter: take a peek at the dictionary.
By the way, of course I make lots of mistakes, too. My point is that professional publications seem to have stopped employing copy editors to check spelling, grammar and punctuation, which means readers are misled about the usage of words and phrases like the ones above.
This may be understandable in a small publication like the Coachella Valley Weekly, but I think we have the right to expect better of Reader's Digest, Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today.
