The Big List Of Booboos And Blunders / V to Z

• "vermilion" is an orange-red; "viridian" is green.
• "verses" as opposed to "versus". The first is poetry, the other indicates a state of opposition or contrast. It's "Tyson versus Holyfield", not "Tyson verses Holyfield"—unless Tyson is writing poetry about his opponent. Poetry slams and rap battles are versus of verses.
• A "vial" is a small, cylindrical container, usually for liquid medicines. Although "vile" (horrid) might be an appropriate description for such a container's contents, it is not the proper name for the container.
  • Similarly, a "phial" is a "vial". A "file" is not.
• "viola"/"wa-la" when meaning the French word "voila" (literally, "look there", colloquially "check this out!"), which is pronounced "vwah-lah". "Wa-la" is just a spelling error, while a "viola" is a stringed instrument, the next step up in size from a violin, but not nearly as big as a cello. Also incorrect: "wallah" (Hindi, someone who is associated with a particular activity, selling or carrying something), "wallah!" (Arabic, w-Allah, "By God"), or "Walla" (half the name of a city in eastern Washington State).
  • ahem. It's Voilà, accent grave, merci. ^note The grave-accent "a" is done either with a multilingual keyboard, or by holding ALT and pressing 0224
  • And "viola" means "[s/he] raped" in French^note  it's the historical past tense form of the verb "violer", which means "to violate, to rape". The form "violé" is the past participle of the verb, also usable as an adjectival form. If you're looking for the French name of the instrument, it's an "Alto".
• "viri" (or, far worse, "virii") for "viruses". In the original Latin "virus" is singular only; as one computer writer has put it, "since the Romans couldn't be bothered to invent an irregular Latin plural for 'virus', why should we do it for them?". As for the other spelling, come on—the singular isn't "virius", so how can the plural possibly be "virii"?
  • It is even worse because 'viri' is a plural form of 'vir' (man).
  • On the subject of virus singular/plural distinctions, a single functional unit (protein capsid delivery mechanism and DNA/RNA payload) of a virus is called a "virion". Multiple units can be referred to as "virions" (analogous to person/persons).
• "Virile" (manly) vs "Virulent (extremely toxic or infectious). Despite sounding similar, the two words have no relation other than both being Latin.
• "visa vi" when the writer meant "vis-à-vis".
• "visa versa" for vice-versa. Surprisingly widespread error. People seem to want to make it rhyme.
• "visage" technically does mean face, but the two words should not be considered interchangeable. "Visage" generally refers to the expression or overall look of someone's face. Someone might present a ghastly visage after a particularly gruelling ordeal, but to point out that they also have a spot on their visage would be unfitting as well as rather cruel.
• "viscous" for "vicious". It either flows like molasses, or it's got a bad temper. You decide. (In the case of Armus, it's both.) A vicious massacre is brutal and barbaric, a viscous massacre is just gross.
• "voyeurism" (liking to watch) vs. "exhibitionism" (liking to be watched). This is, like "itch/scratch," one of those strange confusions. The root words ("voy-" = "view", and "exhibit") should make it obvious, but some people still err, like in True Angel chapter 24, where someone walking around nude is said to be enjoying her voyeurism.
  • Similarly, "sadism" (finding sexual pleasure from someone else's pain) vs. "masochism" (finding sexual pleasure from your own pain). You would not believe how many gamers have called the creators of Nintendo Hard Platform Hell games "masochists"...
    • However, they may be sadomasochists if they enjoy their own games.
  • It should be noted though, that sadism and masochism do not always refer to sexual pleasure gained specifically from pain, and may refer to simple gratification or satisfaction.
    The masochist said "Hurt me!"
    The sadist said "No."
• "waffled" (vacillated or cooked waffles) for "wafted" (drifted gently through the air)
• "wailing on someone" (howling shrilly while standing on someone) for "whaling on" (in USA slang, punching someone repeatedly.)
  • "wale" means 'a streak, stripe or ridge produced on the skin by the stroke of a rod or whip' (similar to "weal" or "welt"). As a verb, it means 'to mark with wales'. So 'waling on someone' is a correct construction. While it would literally mean thrashing them with a rod or whip, a figurative meaning would be inflicting extreme punishment on them.
• "Wales" (country in the British Isles noted for long, unpronounceable place names) vs. "wales" vs. "wails" vs. "whales" (more than one large aquatic mammal).
• "Waist" (a part of the body) vs. "waste" (garbage, excrement, or something else you want to get rid of). Someone once told me that they read a Buffy fanfic with the sentence "Willow put her arm around Tara's waste."
• "Wait ago" for "way to go". An amusing eggcorn.
• "wander" (walk around without a destination in mind) vs. "wonder" (ruminate). If you wander about something, you go on a walking tour of it. If you wonder about something, you try to understand what it means.
  • If you get lost while wandering the countryside, you wonder where you are.
• "wane" (a verb meaning "to decrease") for "wan" (an adjective meaning "unhealthily pale")
• "waning gibbon" (a sickly ape) or "waxing gibbon" (an ape involved in candle-making, perhaps?) for "waning gibbous" and "waxing gibbous" (phases of the moon).
• "wave" (friendly gesture with one's hand, or a rhythmic propagation of energy through a medium) vs "waive" (voluntarily relinquish or refrain from enforcing a right or obligation)
• "weary" (tired, exhausted) for "wary" (cautious, concerned)
• "weather" (wind, rain, snow and other phenomena) for "whether" (used to delineate two possible choices, one of which might be implied).
  • Don't confuse either of those with "wether", a castrated ram.
  • A traditional mnemonic is "whether the wether can weather the weather"—"if the ram can endure the atmospheric condition".
  • Additionally, "weather" vs. "climate". Weather is a day-to-day condition, whereas climate is averaged over years. This is a really bad one, as people have tried to use a one-day record low as supposed disproof of climate change.
• "Wels" (Silurus glanis) is a large species of a catfish. "Welsh" is someone or something from Wales.
• "where" (adverb indicating or querying location) vs. "were" (third person plural past tense of "is", also subjunctive mood of the simple past tense) vs. "wear" (what you do with clothing)
  • "Were" is also an archaic word for "man"—hence a "werewolf", a combination of a man and a wolf.
    • In fact, originally the word man was gender-neutral, simply meaning "person." A male person was a wereman, while a female person was a wyfman. Eventually, the "were" was dropped entirely, while wyfman became woman (and wife).
• "where with all" for "wherewithal" (the means to do something): eggcorn.
• "Wherefore" does not refer to location, but is basically an archaic way of saying "Why" (as in the idiom "whys and wherefores," meaning "reasons"). "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" (note: no comma between "thou" and Romeo, as there would be if she was asking where he was) is Juliet lamenting that her new lover is a Montague, asking Why he couldn't be someone that her family wasn't sworn to kill on sight.
• "Which" should only be as a pronoun referring to objects and "who" as a pronoun referring to people, e.g. "The man who was here" vs. "the car which was here". That said, since English inexplicably doesn't have an impersonal equivalent to "whose", it is okay to say things like "The car whose motor won't work" rather than drop a clanger like "the car the motor of which won't work". Additionally, "that" can safely replace either of the two words.
  • There is also a subtle difference between "the man who was here" and "the man, who was here". The former identifies someone as being the one at this location in the past ("Which man? The man who was here"). The latter asserts that an already-identified man was at this location in the past ("The man we're talking about was here."). "That" can readily be used in the former case, but not so much in the latter.
• "who" (subjective pronoun) vs. "whom" (objective pronoun); few people know when to use "whom" and thus default to "who" for all cases. A simple way to remember which is appropriate is to replace the "who" with "he" or "him". If "he" sounds correct, use "who"; if "him" sounds correct, use "whom".
  • Who loves whom? He loves him.
• "Whoa" (Stop!, or just an expression of amazement in general) is considered the standard spelling. "Woah" is non-standard but still fairly common (considering the word almost always said aloud rather than written down, it's not surprising people would spell it in more than one way.)
  • Also, don’t confuse it with "woe" which is another word for misery.
• It's "wiener" (as it's a Vienna, Wiener, sausage), not "weiner".
  • The latter is especially common for a certain body part, so if that distinction could be made official and common, language actually would gain.
  • This example means nothing to me.
• "wired" (hooked up to a power source, or high on stimulants such as caffeine) for "weird" (strange), likely a result of spellcheckers correcting "wierd". Which is, of course, because "weird" is a weird word—it fails to follow normal ie/ei convention as it neither follows a "c" nor precedes a "gh".
  • Careful with that "normal" convention, too; there are more "ei" cases in English than "ie," it's just that the "ie" cases are in more common usage.
• "wither" (dry up, shrivel) for "writhe" (move with twists and turns). Also not "whither" (to what place/end), which sees little modern use in itself.
• "wizened up" (grew dried out and wrinkly) for "wised up" (got a clue)
  • "wisened" is technically a synonym for "wised", but it's a very uncommon word and will usually be mistaken for a variant of "wizened".
• "woe" (misfortune) vs. "woo" (try to win someone's love). Saying you want to woe someone is not only bad grammar, it means you want to make their life miserable.
• "Women" is a plural; "woman" is the singular. You cannot have "a women."
• "wonton" is a savoury Chinese food item; "wanton" means either "unprovoked" (said of violence) or "promiscuous" (said of a person). So unless your characters really are going at it like boiled dumplings...
• "work" for "walk". It's impossible to imagine someone who is not functionally illiterate confusing these two words, but it's a mistake that can be made by a typo that does not get checked.
• "worn" (used as clothing, or eroded by use) for "warn" (alert)
• "worst" (superlative) vs. "worse" (comparative). If you see "worst than", it's wrong. If you see "worst then"...
  • "worsted" is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead, a village in the English county of Norfolk.
  • And the worst thing you can do is confuse it with "wurst" (sausage). Don't say that your brat is the worst when you want a bratwurst.
• "wrath" (anger, rage) for "wraith" (ghost, spirit)
  • Though a wraith may be wroth (angry, enraged), or perhaps wear a wreath (circular band of foliage or ornamental work).
  • "wrath" vs "hatred": The first is an act, the latter is an emotion. Wrath is an expression of hatred.
• "wreck" (to destroy or ruin) for "wreak" (to commit)—"wrecking havoc" means you're just neatening up the place.
  • And if an eggcorn reeks, it simply stinks.
  • Heaven help you if you write about someone "wrecking revenge" (sabotaging someone's revenge plans?) or—even worse—"reeking revenge".
    • Hawkeye and BJ once took reeking revenge on Charles for his atrocious French horn playing.
• "wretch" (a pitiful person) for "retch" (vomit)
• "Yanno" as a contraction for "you know". There's already an established contraction for "you know"—it's "y'know". "Yanno" looks, to the literate reader, like some obscure foreign name, probably stressed on the first syllable.
• "Yea" for "yeah". Yea is an archaic form of yes, but it is pronounced "yay", not 'yeah'. The only time "yea" is used today is in response to a formal vote; to vote yea or nay.
• "you're" (contraction of "you are") vs. "your" (showing ownership by you). Again, this is an understandable error for non-native English speakers, but native speakers really should have learned this in grade school.

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