It's DISCREET, people.

[letsblowthistacostand]

Discreet. Discreet. Discreeeeeeeeeet.

Don't know why this bothers me so much, but it does.

[TigerDrivesAgain]

Well, if you're talking about a discrete issue, it's not discreet, is it?

[letsblowthistacostand]

Very true Tiger, but they never are.

[TigerDrivesAgain]

True indeed.

I like words like discrete though. As opposed to discreet, which has shades of the panty liner.

[Pyrocanthus]

At DD's primary school they learn maths as a discreet topic, according to most of the termly info. sheets (a couple of teachers have spotted it on the pro forma and changed it). I love to think of them all discussing subtraction in polite undertones.

[IdrisTheDragon]

Complimentary and complementary is a bugbear of mine.

[TigerDrivesAgain]

Love it pyro (is it ok to call you pyro, I can't be bothered to type your whole name).

(I can hear it now. "Don't tell: we're doing tables next week".)

[TigerDrivesAgain]

stationary and stationery are also good. As you can only get stationery from a stationer, there shouldn't be any problem, but crikey,it does cause problems

[Pyrocanthus]

Pyro is absolutely fine, Tiger (if I may).

[UnquietDad]

A friend once told me about a memo he got while working in a bank:

"The stationary cupboard has moved."

[TigerDrivesAgain]

UQD

I love "if I may", and indeed use it in business letters and emails rather too freely. If I say so myself, that is.

[letsblowthistacostand]

Principle/principal very annoying as well.

[BiteOfFun]

Hate all of these- lose/loose is the worst on here though.

[TrillianAstra]

I was about to say that sometimes it is discrete.

Just like both affect and effect can be a verb and a noun, but they are hardly ever the unexpected one.

[kickassangel]

just discovered this week that yanks only have the word practise, not practice.
now that has done my head in.

[CheerfulYank]

We don't have practise at all actually It's all about practice!

[kickassangel]

sorry, wrong way round. see, i got confused, my friends started winding me up & saying it was practize!!

i used to teach english & was adament about the difference between practice & practise, particularly when some members of the english staff got it wrong!

[CheerfulYank]

What is the difference? We just have the one, so I'm honestly curious.

[kickassangel]

practice as a noun, so you would go to the doctor's practice, as that is a place.

practise is a verb. so you would practise your spellings for school.

so you can't change practice (apart from adding an s for plural)
but you can used practised, practising etc

there's loads of other spellings i've learnt about since moving here, more than i ever imagined. every so often i have a moment as someone says something that just doesn't quite work, and i have to sit & think what they meant!

[kickassangel]

ok, off to bed now. tis after 11 pm here, and after a little drinkie i'm feeling very dopey.

[CheerfulYank]

Happy dreams, neighbor

[TrillianAstra]

yy to practice/practise

[TsarChasm]

'stationery' has an 'e' for envelope in it which helps me remember that's the one for pens and pencils etc...

[BiteOfFun]

It's easier to think of it like advice/advise, if that helps.

[TrillianAstra]

I didn't know about stationery/stationary until a couple of years ago - I don't think we were taught it in school.

[TigerDrivesAgain]

You buy your stationery from a stationer - that's how I remember: once you've got it, fine.

Bit of a sidetrack, but you know if you say "he pored over every detail" - it is "pore/pored" isn't it - not "pour/poured". I've just stuck this in a letter to a client and now I am wondering (thanks to this thread, tbh) if I've used completely the wrong word.