Another think coming vs. another thing coming

The copy editor is in.
I'm presenting occasional posts on the use of English,
not to be pedantic but just for the fun of language.

This is one that bothers me when I see or hear it wrong because the original is so sly and humorous, and the "correction" is so dull.

This is the phrase in use:

"If he thinks he's going to get out of paying for that llama, he's got another think coming!"

Too often lately I see it instead as "If he thinks … he's got another thing coming."

Lauren's link love: Making a living as a writer, editing Hemingway-style, & the good of Amazon

Links to share, collected at @LaurenWaynecom on Twitter:

<3 this: How I Make a Living as a Writer (and You Can, Too) by @jaltucher https://t.co/8agyxAXaio (Hint: It involves a LOT of #writing.)

— Lauren Wayne (@LaurenWaynecom) February 27, 2016

Need an editing app? So did Hemingway, apparently.

Hemingway Takes the Hemingway Test - will he pass? https://t.co/k5O9LyFtc5 #editing #writing

— Lauren Wayne (@LaurenWaynecom) February 26, 2016

How to Edit Your Book in 4 Steps by Mike Nappa at @WritersDigest https://t.co/HgL9egfIG3 #editing #writing

— Lauren Wayne (@LaurenWaynecom) February 28, 2016

Lauren's link love: Editing tools, author publicity, & crafting a book

Links to share, collected at @LaurenWaynecom on Twitter:

5 Ways to Use #Instagram as an Author | Jane Friedman #writing https://t.co/W3OsTNpeHH

— Lauren Wayne (@LaurenWaynecom) January 25, 2016

#Writing is as hard as breaking rocks. Sparks and splinters fly like shattered steel. Clarice Lispector #amwriting pic.twitter.com/pX2yIvxqx5

— The UnNovelist (@TheUnNovelist) January 27, 2016

7 Web tools that check for empathy, inclusivity and more https://t.co/HMUnAIf6hV

— Lauren Wayne (@LaurenWaynecom) January 28, 2016

Make do vs. make due & Without further ado vs. further adieu

The copy editor is in.
I'm presenting occasional posts on the use of English,
not to be pedantic but just for the fun of language.

This is one of those times when people try to make things harder than they are. We have certain words in our language that are just so plain that apparently they beg for spicing up.

The phrase "make do" means to manage with what you've got. You don't have to add a fancy "due" to make do with the original.

"Due" is mainly used to indicate that something is owed, which doesn't make sense in this construction.

Jive vs. jibe

Thumbs Up!

The copy editor is in.
I'm presenting occasional posts on the use of English,
not to be pedantic but just for the fun of language.

I don't know why, but this is one of those word distinctions I relish knowing and wish more people did. Maybe it's that both words are so fun to say.

"Jibe" sounds made up, right? The reality is that "jive" is a much newer word.

If you want to say that something sounds about right, or that something resonates with you, which one do you use?

Forward vs. foreword

The copy editor is in.
I'm presenting occasional posts on the use of English,
not to be pedantic but just for the fun of language.

Vorwort = a strong sign that English is a Germanic language!

This one should be short and simple. I'd think it wasn't even necessary, except that I just picked up a published book with the wrong term used. (Oh, I know — mistakes in books wouldn't normally horrify me, but this one seemed egregious given that one of the options is a book-specific term.)

"Forward" is the descriptive word we all know and love meaning in or toward the front. (It has lesser meanings that are more metaphorically inclined, such as "precocious" and "brash.")

"Foreword" is a noun referring to a front introductory section in a book, usually written by someone other than the author, who presents and endorses the author and the premise.

Loose vs. lose

The copy editor is in.
I'm presenting occasional posts on the use of English,
not to be pedantic but just for the fun of language.

If your gate is loose, you might lose your dog.
Ah, the two-Oed monster. It's so tempting for internet commenters everywhere to write loose no matter which word they mean. It must just be fun to type those double Os.

"Loose" is pronounced with a short S sound, the kind that sounds like a hiss. As in "sound" and "hiss," in fact.

"Lose" is pronounced with the Z sound that S can make, as in the second S in "sounds."

Once you can remember how each is pronounced, you probably can figure out which one you want at a given moment. "Loose" is usually an adjective or adverb, describing something that's unfixed or unbound. (It can also be used as a verb, meaning "to set loose.") To "lose" is always a verb, meaning to forsake or misplace something.

Flack vs. flak

The copy editor is in.
I'm presenting occasional posts on the use of English,
not to be pedantic but just for the fun of language.

The one on the left is some serious German artillery, and the one on the right is a publicist.
Catch the difference?

I hope I don't catch a lot of flak for saying that "flak" is the appropriate spelling for an attack or opposition, and "flack" is a person who specializes in publicity.

Hard to imagine they'd get confused, then, but I think English speakers don't like the odd c-less spelling of flak. That makes sense, because "flak" is German, and unusual German at that. It's an abbreviation of Fliegerabwehrkanone (anti-aircraft guns), so it was adopted into English from WWII, and became metaphorical sometime thereafter. For another literal use, think "flak jacket."

Sunday Surf: Babies, BlogHer, & the cost of blogging

Links to share, from Writing Tidbits:

How to merge pdf files in OSX

How did I not know it was SO EASY to combine PDFs in Mac?

1 DAY AGO

PDFs

Report alleged copyright infringement: Blogger - Google Help

Convenient DMCA form for Blogger/Google entities who are infringing on your copyright (such as spam blogs scraping your content).

1 MONTH AGO

blogger spam DMCA

Throws vs. throes

The copy editor is in.
I'm presenting occasional posts on the use of English,
not to be pedantic but just for the fun of language.

If you're enduring something, you're in the throes of it. If you've got a ball or a horseshoe, you can practice your throws.

They're pronounced the same, but one's spelled so much more interestingly.

Welch vs. welsh

The copy editor is in.
I'm presenting occasional posts on the use of English,
not to be pedantic but just for the fun of language.

Ok, I'm going to enlighten you as to the correct phrase for accusing someone of skipping on a bet, and then we all have to agree not to use it.

The fact is, both "welch" and "welsh" as verbs have a similarly long history, but etymologies track both back to suspecting residents of Wales of being cheaters.

According to the OED, the term "welsher" was being published at least as early as the 1850s in racing parlance, and welsh and welch developed from there, not long after. If I had to choose, I'd say "welsh on a bet" is the more accurate form (as opposed to "welch on a bet"), if by accurate we're not referring to how well it describes the actual Welsh.

I love that the OED and Merriam-Webster label this use "sometimes considered offensive." I guess whether you consider it offensive depends (a) whether you know what it means (I'm sure a lot of Americans assume it has something to do with grape juice) and (b) whether you're Welsh. I remember when I first learned it was "welsh" and not "welch" that I thought, "Well, that can't be right. Because isn't that saying people from Wales are all cheaters? … Ohhh."

Cardshark vs. cardsharp

The copy editor is in.
I'm presenting occasional posts on the use of English,
not to be pedantic but just for the fun of language.

This is one that people like to fight me on, but it's cardsharp. I don't doubt that enough people use cardshark now that it will become just as acceptable sooner or later. (Language is ever evolving, and it's a very democratic process.)

Sharp and shark as negative nouns actually probably both stem from the same root, sharker. Certainly the idea of a metaphorical shark being one who preys on others (witness loan shark and lawyer jokes) is well established. But sharp is more defined as an expert and/or a cheat, both of which relate more narrowly to card games.

Pawn off vs. palm off

The copy editor is in.
I'm presenting occasional posts on the use of English,
not to be pedantic but just for the fun of language.

If you're trying to hand off an unpleasant task or an unwanted object, you're palming it off. ("I'm trying to palm off the lawn mowing onto my little brother.") I imagine it as referring to a sneaky roadside magician, or maybe a pickpocket who's trying to incriminate you — the idea is that something is concealed in the palm and then foisted onto someone else.

Pawning is the act of putting merchandise up as security for a quick loan. I'm not saying it doesn't relate at all to the way "palming off" is often used, since you very well might pawn an unwanted object, but it's not the same term.

Whether someone palms or pawns something terrible off onto you, though, you're screwed. See what I did there?

Hone in vs. home in

The copy editor is in.
I'm going to present occasional posts on the use of English,
not to be pedantic but just for the fun of language.

Here's a pair of words I hear confused a lot: hone vs. home, used in the phrase "to home in on something."

And that way I used it in the phrase? That's the real way.

See, "hone" means to sharpen, whereas "home" refers to — you might have guessed this — home. So, for instance, carrier pigeons home, in that they fly back to their base after delivering a message (or however the heck carrier pigeons work — how do they work?). So if you want to focus on something, you might be honing your concentration, but you will be homing in on your goal.

Lauren's link love: Keeping it real

This is me being a genuine weirdo.

Once again, I'm bringing you a Sunday Surf-like experience of the best recent links I've found for the bloggers and writers out there.

• "Social media interactions: How not to be an asshole" from This is Worthwhile: Your online space is your personal space. Everyone else can back off already. This was written to apply to Facebook, but I keep thinking of how it also applies to blogs and Twitter and so on as well. Jessica's saying, and I have to agree: If you don't like what someone's saying, why are you reading it? Don't get up in their face; just go away. What do you think about this perspective? (See also: The highly entertaining "post where I alienate people once again" at Scary Mommy. Assuming you don't mind the f-bomb used to hilarious effect.)
• "Blogging Basics: Where to Find Ad Buyers" from 3 Boys And A Dog: I thought looking to Facebook ads & other blogs' ads was such a clever idea for finding potential advertisers.
• "What Should Fiction Writers Blog About?" from There Are No Rules: On blogging topics as a novelist.
• "Manifesto: I Am Not a Brand" from MaureenJohnson on BlogHer: Be real.
• "The 8 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers" from Annabel Candy on BlogHer: Yup.
• "Apostrophe's are for contraction's and possessive noun's, not plural's" from #!/usr/bin/mom: "Many people seem to find the proper use of apostrophes scary and confusing, but the concept is really quite simple: Apostrophes are for contractions and possessive nouns, not plurals. Remember that, and you'll likely use apostrophes correctly 99% of the time." My mother would love this article. She routinely writes letters and emails to the newspaper and advertisers about incorrect apostrophe usage, threatening to take away their apostrophe license.
• "My purse was stolen #bestthingthateverhappenedtome" from Dating After 40, Okay Hoping to Date After 40: Hilarious description of CSI overkill, and a clever way blogging can help promote a mystery (or any) novel.
• "How to Write a Query" from Agent Query, via Her Bad Mother on StumbleUpon: Thorough, step-by-step, and (thank goodness) encouraging list of exactly how to write a fiction query letter to an agent. I will be coming back to this when it's time to write mine!

Leave any recommended posts in the comments (yes, even your own — I'd love to take a look). Thanks for the great articles, all of the above, & happy reading!
Lauren