I see a lot of "who's" when it should be whose. Also, the apostrophe is used to indicate a contraction of "who is," not something belonging to the rock band.

Your vs. You're

I've seen some emails lately with a signature line that includes "your welcome" . . . .

Elicit/illicit.
Ordnance/ordinance. I see this one all the time. Military weaponry is ordnance!!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: egregore,

supersede & supercede..., wait

Cue vs. queue

cue
a: a signal to a performer to begin a specific action
b: a tapering rod for striking the cue ball (as in billiards and pool)

queue
a: a waiting line; persons, objects, or data are added at one end of the line and are processed at the other

I like these threads. They give me an outlet for my inner Grammar Nazi.

 
Apostrophes are free. Use them, liberally, wherever you want to.
 

Homicide and murder. Yes, all murders are homicides, but a homicide isn't necessarily a murder. Homicide is simply the killing of one human being by another. The circumstances are what dictates its being justifiable (e.g., killing in self defense), murder, manslaughter and all the varying degrees thereof.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
Homicide and murder. Yes, all murders are homicides, but a homicide isn't necessarily a murder. Homicide is simply the killing of one human being by another. The circumstances are what dictates its being justifiable (e.g., killing in self defense), murder, manslaughter and all the varying degrees thereof.

A death in wartime is another example of a homicide that is not considered a murder. Even worse is when "murder" is proposed as the "manner of death" or the "cause of death". Manner can be one of only four things: natural, accidental, homicide, or suicide. Cause is the medical determination of what made the body stop working (bleeding out due to gsw, heart attack, blunt force trauma to the brain, etc). Google for "cause of death" and you will usually find manners of death listed among the causes. The two terms are widely misunderstood, and murder does not belong in either category.
 

Concentric and eccentric. A concentric cam is an oxymoron.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Moot and Mute

A co-worker uses the term "it's a mute point" occasionally and I don't have the heart to correct him.

"It's a moo point."
"Don't you mean moot?"
"It's like a cow's opinion. It doesn't matter. It's moo."

...otherwise most of my pet peeves (the their/they're/there and who's/whose confusions are the ones I most often correct in reports I get...)

succeed/secede
statute/statue

Calvary (the site of Jesus' crucifixion) and cavalry (horse-mounted soldiers).

Hanger and hangar.

One is for your clothes, the other is for your plane.