Mnemonic Devices for Easily Confused Words

[Mycroft]

Cavalry/Calvary? One starts with a C like Cowboy, and the other starts with a C, like Church? Uhm, I got nothin'.
ETA:
Wait, one starts with CALV, like Calves! Tended by Cowboys, who ride horses! Oh, wait. Still nuthin'

I always said "Jesus died at Calvary. The Cavalry did not ride to his rescue."

 

[Myriad]

Also, cavalry and chivalry are closely related words. That plus dasmiller's calvary-calgary similarly keeps them pretty clear.

 

[Wowbagger]

Calvary was the supposed place where Jesus died, and the depiction of Jesus often varies.

Cavalry is used in the catch-phrase "Cheers love, the cavalry 's here!", and if you can remember how the character Tracer pronounces that, with the "val" in it, you'll remember that's the one to use for a bunch of troops.

 

[Childlike Empress]

We learned that thing about English in school where at the end the other guy orders train tickets as well:

"Two to Toulouse too".

No idea what they were up to in France, though.

 

[arthwollipot]

Examples do not necessarily need to sound alike, but can also be confused for other reasons. For example: Port Side vs. Starboard Side. The words "Port" and "Left" have the same number of letters, therefore Port is the Left side of the ship. That leaves Starboard as the right side of the ship.

I was taught "There's a little bit of port left in the bottle".

 

[theprestige]

Cavalry/Calvary? One starts with a C like Cowboy, and the other starts with a C, like Church? Uhm, I got nothin'.
ETA:
Wait, one starts with CALV, like Calves! Tended by Cowboys, who ride horses! Oh, wait. Still nuthin'

Semantics trump mnemonics, for me. Romance languages are especially easy. Cavalo, caballero, cavalier, and cavalry are all the same word, pretty much, all meaning something to do with horses.

Calvary, then, is notable for not being part of the horse family of words.

 

[arthwollipot]

Semantics trump mnemonics, for me. Romance languages are especially easy. Cavalo, caballero, cavalier, and cavalry are all the same word, pretty much, all meaning something to do with horses.

Calvary, then, is notable for not being part of the horse family of words.

My high school Latin teacher has me on record as saying that I'd learned more about English in Latin than I ever did in English.

One of the most useful things about Latin is learning about word origins. All the romance languages are to some extent derived from Latin, so there are many similarities between them. It makes things like this easier.

 

[theprestige]

My high school Latin teacher has me on record as saying that I'd learned more about English in Latin than I ever did in English.



One of the most useful things about Latin is learning about word origins. All the romance languages are to some extent derived from Latin, so there are many similarities between them. It makes things like this easier.

Yup. It helps that I'm fluent in Portuguese. That alone unpacks like half the English language.

 

[smartcooky]

Stationery -- envelopes

Stationary -- at rest

 

[rjh01]

There or Their?

There as in here

Their - belong to someone.

 

[Porpoise of Life]

Examples do not necessarily need to sound alike, but can also be confused for other reasons. For example: Port Side vs. Starboard Side. The words "Port" and "Left" have the same number of letters, therefore Port is the Left side of the ship. That leaves Starboard as the right side of the ship.

I was taught "Port" is red as in the drink, red is left as in politics. Not that I need it, since I never sail.

Ah, yes, and starboard for the stars in the flags of communist countries like China and the USSR, which are also red.

 

[fleabeetle]

I was taught "There's a little bit of port left in the bottle".

I once knew a self-styled nautical type who took this stuff, with "covering all bases" intentions, almost to the point of lunacy. As well as "port / left / red", he added the business by which buoys marking a channel along which one sails, are even-numbered if on the port side (depending on the direction of travel). As ever, the opposite things to what's in the mnemonic, apply to the opposite. Two variations for this:

"There isn't even any red port left"; and (a bit out-of-date nowadays) "On our voyage from Odessa to Istanbul, we left the Red port on the even-ing tide."

My high school Latin teacher has me on record as saying that I'd learned more about English in Latin than I ever did in English.

One of the most useful things about Latin is learning about word origins. All the romance languages are to some extent derived from Latin, so there are many similarities between them. It makes things like this easier.

Except when it doesn't... I remember a baffling time in school Latin, when I tried to follow the advice to use a similar English word which I knew, to try to work out the unknown Latin one; which was contingere: to be in contact, to occur. I attempted this, using "contingent" -- which I knew as "a bunch of people sent to the same place" (military in origin) -- and got totally flummoxed. How this particular meaning was ever got from the Latin verb, strikes me as totally random.

(Your statement is true in many cases -- just, not always !)

 

[3point14]

In this thread, we will post examples of mnemonic devices we use to help remember the difference between two or more words that are easily confused, for one reason or another. It doesn't matter how wacky they are: As long as they help YOU remember stuff.

For example: Entomology vs. Etymology:

Entomology begins with the word "Ent". Ents are creatures in The Lord of the Rings who are giant walking trees, sort of analogous to stick insects. (The fact that ents don't really exist is besides the point.) If you can remember that connection, you can remember that entomology is the study of insects.

Etymology begins with "Ety" which sounds sort of like the web site Etsy. If you look at its HTML source in a browser, you will find it is made up of a bunch of words. Therefore, Etymology studies the sources of words.

Obligatory

 

[3point14]

Examples do not necessarily need to sound alike, but can also be confused for other reasons. For example: Port Side vs. Starboard Side. The words "Port" and "Left" have the same number of letters, therefore Port is the Left side of the ship. That leaves Starboard as the right side of the ship.

I use "There's no port left in the bottle". This is handy because port is red.

Edit - Arth does to - should read to the end of the thread, really.

 

[smartcooky]

Except when it doesn't... I remember a baffling time in school Latin, when I tried to follow the advice to use a similar English word which I knew, to try to work out the unknown Latin one; which was contingere: to be in contact, to occur. I attempted this, using "contingent" -- which I knew as "a bunch of people sent to the same place" (military in origin) -- and got totally flummoxed. How this particular meaning was ever got from the Latin verb, strikes me as totally random.

(Your statement is true in many cases -- just, not always !)

But "contingent" also has another meaning in English: occurring or existing only if certain circumstances are true.

Ever heard the expression "A is contingent upon B"?

The whole etymology comes from from the Latin "con" meaning together and "tangere" meaning to touch or to contact (from which we get "Tangent")

So, circumstances effectively need to be in contact

It also makes sense for "a contingent of people" to be regarded as "together in contact" in a philosophical sense. e.g.

a contingent of Americans
a contingent of Sports Stars
a contingent of Politicians

each group shares a commonality.

 

[fleabeetle]

But "contingent" also has another meaning in English: occurring or existing only if certain circumstances are true.

Ever heard the expression "A is contingent upon B"?

The whole etymology comes from from the Latin "con" meaning together and "tangere" meaning to touch or to contact (from which we get "Tangent")

So, circumstances effectively need to be in contact

I know "contingent upon" now; but didn't, aged fourteen -- knew the word only in its "folk sent to same place" sense.

It also makes sense for "a contingent of people" to be regarded as "together in contact" in a philosophical sense. e.g.

a contingent of Americans
a contingent of Sports Stars
a contingent of Politicians

each group shares a commonality.

Mmm -- to be honest, this one strikes me as so far-fetched as to belong in Humpty-Dumpty-Land. Influenced perhaps, by my still smarting under my humiliation of more than half a century ago.

 

[Earthborn]

I was taught "Port" is red as in the drink, red is left as in politics. Not that I need it, since I never sail.

Boats also have a red light on their port side (and a green on starboard) so that helps you remember that as well. Those light essentially mean the same thing as traffic lights: if you see a red light from a boat approaching from the right, you have to give it priority.

I know. Watching US elections from across the pond, I always found that confusing. Lucky I don't sail

The colours red for republicans and blue for democrats have only been firmly established since the 2000 presidential election. Before that it often was the other way around. Using red for republicans confused me to, but now that we know they are in cahoots with the KGB, I guess it makes perfect sense.

 

[theprestige]

Except when it doesn't... I remember a baffling time in school Latin, when I tried to follow the advice to use a similar English word which I knew, to try to work out the unknown Latin one; which was contingere: to be in contact, to occur. I attempted this, using "contingent" -- which I knew as "a bunch of people sent to the same place" (military in origin) -- and got totally flummoxed. How this particular meaning was ever got from the Latin verb, strikes me as totally random.



(Your statement is true in many cases -- just, not always !)

That one's easy. The whole point of deploying troops is to make contact with the enemy. The troops in contact are the "contactment".

 

[Dave Rogers]

Boats also have a red light on their port side (and a green on starboard) so that helps you remember that as well. Those light essentially mean the same thing as traffic lights: if you see a red light from a boat approaching from the right, you have to give it priority.

"If to starboard red appear,
Port your helm and keep well clear.
Green to green or red to red,
Perfect safety, full ahead."

As I once read somewhere.

Dave

 

[Wolrab]

They're there with their beer.