Yet another word stupidity: vinegar

[cjsmith]

French "vinegar" = vinaigre.
French "wine" = vin.
French "sour" = aigre.

What happens to wine when it goes bad? WHY DID I NOT SEE HOW THEY MADE THAT WORD? It's not like I don't know every one of these words in French, and it's not like I've never in my life heard anything about wine.

I picked up this little gem while reading my chemistry textbook last night. (They're discussing acetic acid. Acetum: Latin, soured.)

The more stuff like this I notice, the more I think I need to turn in my interested-in-languages card. Obviously I ignore the topic almost completely.

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have to admit I just shake my head over stuff like that. (When I see it in print, though, I want to demand the copyeditor's job.)

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! I get so annoyed when they interchange affect and effect. There are some others that get my panties in a twist.

What is really funny, though, is that I have a friend who cannot spell when she is in a hurry (or can't be bothered to use spellcheck), but her spelling usually doesn't bother me. She is such a delightful and sweet person and extremely intelligent in other areas that I let it slide.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Right. There's a big difference between someone who's essentially trusting you to accept her as she is when she lets her hair down in e-mail, and someone who's being paid to catch and correct errors!