10 common words people get wrong
Harold Evans, author of Do I Make Myself Clear? Why Writing Well Matters and editor of Fleet Street has proscribed a glossary in The Guardian to solve common language dilemmas.
1. Alibi - Means “proof that one was elsewhere” but is confused with “excuse”, which has a wider generality. Let us save “alibi” for the precision of proving you were not within a mile of the kitchen when the last slice of apple pie vanished.
2. Alternatives - Wrongly used for “choices”. If there are two choices, they are properly called “alternatives”. If there are more than two, they are choices.
3. Anticipate - Confused with “expect”. To expect something is to think it may happen; to anticipate is to prepare for it, to act in advance. To say a fiancee expects marriage is correct; to say she is anticipating marriage defames the lady.
4. Chronic - Confused with “acute” or “severe”, medically the opposite. It means long-lasting (from the Greek chronos, “time”). An acute illness comes to a crisis; a chronic one lingers.
5. Dilemma - Confused with “problem”. If you have a problem, you do not know what to do. There may be many solutions. If you have a dilemma, you have a choice of two courses of action, neither attractive.
6. Virtually - Incorrectly used to mean “nearly all”; eg: “Virtually all the chocolates were eaten.” “Virtually” is useful for an imprecise description that is more or less right, close enough, as good as. “He’s virtually the manager.” He does not have the title, but he manages the business.
7. Transpire - Wrongly used to mean, merely, “happen”. It comes from the Latin spirare, “breathe”. To “transpire” is to emit through the surface of leaves or skin and, figuratively, is best used for when some fact oozes out, especially a secret.
8. Crescendo - Confused with “climax”. It indicates a passage of music to be played with increasing volume. Figuratively, it means “to rise to a climax”. Thus the cliche “Rise to a crescendo” is nonsense.
9. Viable/Feasible - “Viable” means capable of independent life – a viable foetus or seed or, figuratively, in the sense of “capable of succeeding”, a candidate. “Feasible” means “capable of being done, accomplished” – a feasible plan.
10.Decimate - Confused with “destroy”. By derivation, decimation means “killing one in 10”. Today, it is often used figuratively to mean “very heavy casualties”, but to say “completely decimated” or “decimated as much as half the town” simply will not do.