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homonyms - word geek stuff

Jocelyn Campbell

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posted 8 years ago

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There are certain homonyms that I love to point out. And am often surprised that others seem to not know (or care?) there are different spellings.

I just mentioned 'palate' in the how does an apartment dweller make the world a better place thread. Which reminded me that we have:

palate - the roof of the mouth, or, one's sense of taste
palette - used for paints
pallet - on which to pack goods for shipping (and to re-use as fencing and such).

(source)

One other homonym that becomes a bit of pet peeve is:

peak - as in "the peak of a mountain"
peek - as in "to peek through the window"
pique - as in to interest or irritate - "piqued their interest" or "stomped off in a fit of pique"

(source)

What homonyms do you run across or like to feature, flaunt, or flout? ;-)

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James Freyr

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posted 8 years ago

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This is one of those crazy parts of the english language that, if I had to learn now as a second language, would really confuse me.

Bough- branch of a tree
bow- bend the body, like before a king
bow- front of a boat
bow- the pretty thing on top of a wrapped present

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

Karen Donnachaidh

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posted 8 years ago

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Someone call for a wordsmith? You're playing my game here! Y'all have some great ones there.

To
Too
Two

Know
No

Doe
Doh!
Dough

Lie
Lye

Gem
Jim
Gym

By
Buy
Bye

Sell
Cell

You
Yew
Ewe

Pear
Pair
Pare

With forty shades of green, it's hard to be blue.
Garg 'nuair dhùisgear! Virtutis Gloria Merces

Karen Donnachaidh

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According to Wikipedia a homonym is:
Homonyms are words that are both spelled and pronounced the same as each other, yet have different meanings. The category is somewhat subjective, because words sometimes have related, only very slightly different, meanings. Some authors use the term more broadly, to refer to homographs (words spelled the same as each other but pronounced differently) or homophones (words spelled differently but pronounced the same).

Isn't it interesting that we (Jocelyn, James and I) all took our own paths with the words we chose?

With forty shades of green, it's hard to be blue.
Garg 'nuair dhùisgear! Virtutis Gloria Merces

James Freyr

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Hey Karen that's real neat. I didn't know that. I learned something new today

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

Rob Young

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posted 8 years ago

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https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo

Something I heard about today on a podcast.

This is what I was thinking at the time I typed this, it could change with better facts.

Karen Donnachaidh

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posted 8 years ago

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Now that's just absolutely buffaloing!

With forty shades of green, it's hard to be blue.
Garg 'nuair dhùisgear! Virtutis Gloria Merces

Jocelyn Campbell

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Location: Everett, WA (Western Washington State / Cascadia / Pacific NW)

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posted 8 years ago

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Ah, good distinction Karen! I was quickly searching and thought homonym was a good for my examples and I guess not everyone uses homonym with as broad a definition as that.

My examples are also known as homophones - words spelled differently, but that sound the same and have different meanings.

site - a specific location

sight - having the ability to see

There are homographs - words that are spelled the same, but when pronounced differentry they have different meanings.

wind - said with short 'i' - as in "the wind blows"

wind - said with long 'i' - as in "wind the clock"

Then the homonyms, of the more narrow/specific dedfintion! Homonyms are spelled and pronounced the same, but mean different things.

lie - a falsehood

lie - the act of getting or putting something in a horizontal position

I liked rehashing this with even more examples because I'm attempting to remember these terms. :-)

QuickBooks set up and Bookkeeping for Small Businesses and Farms - jocelyncampbell.com

Jocelyn Campbell

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Location: Everett, WA (Western Washington State / Cascadia / Pacific NW)

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Rob Young wrote:https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo

Something I heard about today on a podcast.

Whoa. Paul just asked me to stop explaining this sentence to him. Haha!

QuickBooks set up and Bookkeeping for Small Businesses and Farms - jocelyncampbell.com

David Livingston

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posted 8 years ago

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My favourate is Rose / rows/ roes
A flower
Past tense of rise
Compass
things in lines
Having more than one argument
Moving a boat
Fish eggs
Etc etc

Living in Anjou , France,
For the many not for the few
http://www.permies.com/t/80/31583/projects/Permie-Pennies-France#330873

Travis Johnson

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This is humbling because I would like to consider myself a writer, and have things published, but it is embarrassing sometimes to realize I have written the wrong homophone/homographs/homonyms.

To sound REALLY stupid, I have a tough time with the homographs of Then and Than.

For years I have always used Microsoft Word 2003 and now just upgraded to Microsoft 2016 and the difference in grammar correction is profound. Man my writing seemed stupid just a short while ago. I look back at those little green lines under what I wrote and think, 'Really, I missed that?'

I am so forgiving to others on here not knowing if English is their second language, they got goofed by autocorrect, or are just like me and go wayward.

Larry Bock

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posted 8 years ago

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Pretty neat post. I never actually knew the terms "homonyms" or " homophones". Coming from a guy whose idea of a good time involves a pen and a blank sheet of paper? Will the learning ever cease here on this forum. Loll. Larry

jim hughes

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Not directly on the subject but I saw this sign a few years back. I had seen this sign a thousand times and never really thought about it much, just processed it and moved on. For some reason, on this day, the sign made me feel dumb. Let me explain a bit, I am not educated but I do consider myself smart....70% of time at least:) So, I read the sign "prescribed" rang out in my head. I'll try and illustrate it as best as I can, here's a peek in my head.

"prescribed? scribed in advance. hmmm pre scribbled, how many times have I used "perscription" PER! I'm an asshole...wait script, scribe, scripture, subscription, conscript, etc..."

Anywho....English is cool. I do speak Chinese as well, thats even cooler. no alphabet!

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