Where's a Copyeditor When You Need One?
So, I learned a vocabulary lesson today. I've always been quite pleased with my vocabulary - I know that enormity does not mean "large-ness" and that penultimate is "second to the last." I've known that unique attributes are truly one of a kind and therefore cannot be modified by relative adjectives.
But today I learned that "historic" means "famous" or "having importance." It is not a synonym for "historical" (which means, as we all would expect, "of or relating to history" or "used in the past.")
At least the signs I printed up indicating the location of our "Historic Federal Registers" are on paper; the final signs will be ordered in about a month. (Because, believe me, there is nothing "famous" about the Federal Registers, and they have very little importance :-) )
Did everyone know this but me? And what other "trick" words are out there, lying in wait for me?
Mindy, pleased to add to her knowledge, but a bit embarrassed by the signs - although not really, because they've been up for six months without comment or criticism
But today I learned that "historic" means "famous" or "having importance." It is not a synonym for "historical" (which means, as we all would expect, "of or relating to history" or "used in the past.")
At least the signs I printed up indicating the location of our "Historic Federal Registers" are on paper; the final signs will be ordered in about a month. (Because, believe me, there is nothing "famous" about the Federal Registers, and they have very little importance :-) )
Did everyone know this but me? And what other "trick" words are out there, lying in wait for me?
Mindy, pleased to add to her knowledge, but a bit embarrassed by the signs - although not really, because they've been up for six months without comment or criticism
In one book, we debated the use of "diffuse" versus "defuse" for weeks. "Defuse" was more appropriate, but the editor didn't like the violent connotation. The debate over serial commas or how to punctuate a bulleted list often results in fisticuffs. We hate "Additionally" and always use "In addition".
I have probably doubled or tripled my vocabulary and knowledge of grammar in the last few months... and I *still* don't know very much. Your "historic" is safe with me. :)
ceolnamara
(Anonymous)
1. Having importance in or influence on history. 2. Historical
Under "usage notes", it adds this:
Historic and historical are differentiated in usage, though their senses overlap. Historic refers to what is important in history: the historic first voyage to outer space. It is also used of what is famous or interesting because of its association with persons or events in history: a historic house. Historical refers to whatever existed in the past, whether regarded as important or not: a historical character. Historical refers also to anything concerned with history or the study of the past: a historical novel; historical discoveries. The differentiation between the words is not complete. They are often used interchangeably: historic times or historical times.
And my trusty "Oxford Talking Dictionary" (copyright 1998 by The Learning Company) also lists "historical" as one meaning for "historic".
Over the years, I've found it useful to look at several dictionaries and weigh them out, especially when it comes to differences in opinion as to proper pronunciation. For instance, IN-culcate versus in-CUL-cate. I prefer the former, while most of my friends prefer the latter. But both are valid, according to "American Heritage".
Another overlapping word pair I encounter frequently is "farther" versus "further". Then there's "except" versus "accept" and "access" versus "assess". In this era of electronic spelling checkers, people are getting much sloppier about looking suspect (or is that "suspicious"???) words up to make sure they have the right shade of meaning.
I have a condition called "color synesthesia", which means that to me letters, numbers and entire words have unique color signatures. Thus, when something is "off" I quite frequently can notice this at a glance. On the other hand, I've been known to make very strange mistakes due to unlikely word pairs having similar colors.
Bob Shepard from Denver
P.S. I'm just waiting for you to get your signs back from the shop a month hence, only to find that they read "Hysterical Federal Registers" .... :)
I didn't realize that you had synesthesia. I did a fair amount of research into that, when I was writing Princess Berylina...
Oh - and there is *nothing* hysterical about the Federal Registers :-)