Misused Vocabulary and Factual Errors in Stories That Make You Cringe

[JTass]

According to Webster's, alright is "unacceptable" as a substitute for all right. This usage rule is probably biting the dust, which is too bad. The correct form even looks better.

Yeah, I thought about including this one, but I agree it's fairly subtle. You're also correct that this usage rule is falling by the wayside.
Similarly, split infinitives and pluralized hyphenated words like 'mother-in-laws' are now generally deemed acceptable in non-formal writing.

 

[alohadave]

Similarly, split infinitives

English doesn't have split infinitives, and it's grammatically correct to do it. The prohibition comes from linguists trying to impose Latin grammar rules onto English.

 

[AG31]

Mispunctuated dialogue can take me "out" of a story if it persists for too long. Ditto apostrophe abuse.

Yup, apostrophe abuse is so pervasive!! It boggles the mind how many otherwise educated authors mess it up.

 

[TheArsonist]

What's up with the word bemused? I've never seen that one used incorrectly. Have you seen authors use bemused to replace amused?

Yes, it's a very common mistake, enough so for it to be listed as one sense of the word in many dictionaries. See for example AHD:

bemuse
3. Usage Problem To cause to be mildly or wryly amused: "Unlike William McKinley, whose priggishness bemused him, Roosevelt had no compunctions about smoking cigars in public" (Joseph Conlin).

Usage Note: The word bemused is sometimes used to mean "amused, especially when finding something wryly funny," as in The stream of jokes from the comedian left the audience bemused, with some breaking out into guffaws. Most of the Usage Panel does not like this usage, with 78 percent rejecting this sentence in our 2005 survey. By contrast, 84 percent accepted a sentence in which bemused means "confused."

Not to call out any specific LE authors, but here are a few examples that came up in a quick search:

"C'mon!" Steve whined. "They don't want to know about all that" He pulled his girlfriend more forcefully towards the door. We smiled back, bemused at their antics.

"Was just wondering how many women you've made coffee for?" said Thea.
"In the last ten years, other than you, one," Brett said, sitting by her feet. "My mother." Thea smiled. "My mom always says that you can tell the calibre of a man by how he treats his mother."
"It's can certainly be a good indicator," Brett responded, bemused.
"Tell me more about you," said Thea.
"I think it's your turn, especially when you clearly weren't that interested in what I had to say," he teased.

She lowers her body to fit onto mine with her hair falling into my face. It tickles and I soon find myself giggling. Amandine gives me a bemused look.
"Never been with someone who has long hair, have you?" She asks with a smirk.

"Evening Thonyr, you're here for Saria I presume?" Her tone was light, and there was a clear bemused looking smirk on her face.
"Who else?" He replied quickly, unabashed by her light jest.

 

[OnlyHappyEndings]

Discreet means subtle or unobtrusive. Discrete means separate and distinct.

Looks like I spelled it right in "Middle-Aged Cocksucker" and wrong in "Stepmother's Final Lessons".

 

[Bramblethorn]

Confusion between "vicious", "viscous", and their not-an-actual-word offspring "viscious".

 

[12oclocktales]

English doesn't have split infinitives, and it's grammatically correct to do it. The prohibition comes from linguists trying to impose Latin grammar rules onto English.

Maybe this is just a knock on linguists, which is fine by me, but split infinitives do exist: i.e. to carefully consider, to happily decline, etc. Whether it is now considered correct to use them has to do with if the writing is formal or informal, I think.

 

[RockHerWorld]

I have a retired spelling bee champion that comes out of the wood works every time I submit a new story. I average 3 typos per 15,000 words typed and it feels the need to point this out as if that is abnormal. Then I read a professional journalist written, short, biased entertainment story, loosely based on a news theme, on a major network and it has more that 5 typos in two paragraphs.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Not to call out any specific LE authors, but here are a few examples that came up in a quick search:

Bemused works in each of those examples, though. The text could be "amused", but "bemused" is equally effective, even subtly more so.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

"Savoring the rich chocolate was better then sex."

Ugh! That is just fingernails on a chalkboard.

When spellcheckers first reared their ugly head 20 years ago, the butchering of the word 'definitely' was a rampant plague. It seems that misspelling definitely as definately would suggest the replacement 'defiantly', leading countless emails to read "yes, we should defiantly move forward with this," leaving people like me wondering just who we were to be rebelling against since we were all in agreement.

 

[RetroFan]

Writing most of my stories set in the past, I'm careful where possible not to make anachronistic errors.

I agree that a large error of this type could throw readers out of a story, for example if I wrote a story set in New York in the mid 1960s and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were there, this is a major error on my part. Readers would be right to call me out on this large mistake and rate the story negatively for it.

But sometimes, readers react to the most minor and trivial things. Like a recent comment against my story 'Banging Cousin In Blackpool' which is set in the mid-1950s with at times the narrator Ian looking back to the Second World War when he, Becky and their siblings were evacuated from Liverpool to live in the countryside of Lancashire. I did the very best I could (lots of research) to make the story authentic given that this was set before I was born and I am not from England, and for the most part people seemed to like it. However one commenter - who claimed to actually have been alive and in this location during this era - said that the reality was nothing like what I portrayed in my story, and that it was rubbish because of my poor knowledge and use of history. He could have advised me of what anachronisms or errors I made or decided the story was not for him and find another to read but no, he had to be a miserable old grouch.

 

[Dnthmn_19]

grinded vs ground
coronated vs crowned

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Writing most of my stories set in the past, I'm careful where possible not to make anachronistic errors.

I agree that a large error of this type could throw readers out of a story, for example if I wrote a story set in New York in the mid 1960s and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were there, this is a major error on my part. Readers would be right to call me out on this large mistake and rate the story negatively for it.

But sometimes, readers react to the most minor and trivial things. Like a recent comment against my story 'Banging Cousin In Blackpool' which is set in the mid-1950s with at times the narrator Ian looking back to the Second World War when he, Becky and their siblings were evacuated from Liverpool to live in the countryside of Lancashire. I did the very best I could (lots of research) to make the story authentic given that this was set before I was born and I am not from England, and for the most part people seemed to like it. However one commenter - who claimed to actually have been alive and in this location during this era - said that the reality was nothing like what I portrayed in my story, and that it was rubbish because of my poor knowledge and use of history. He could have advised me of what anachronisms or errors I made or decided the story was not for him and find another to read but no, he had to be a miserable old grouch.

Hi @RetroFan,
I tried messaging you about this story, but you've disabled conversations. Message me if you'd like my feedback.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Writing most of my stories set in the past, I'm careful where possible not to make anachronistic errors.

I agree that a large error of this type could throw readers out of a story, for example if I wrote a story set in New York in the mid 1960s and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were there, this is a major error on my part. Readers would be right to call me out on this large mistake and rate the story negatively for it.

But sometimes, readers react to the most minor and trivial things. Like a recent comment against my story 'Banging Cousin In Blackpool' which is set in the mid-1950s with at times the narrator Ian looking back to the Second World War when he, Becky and their siblings were evacuated from Liverpool to live in the countryside of Lancashire. I did the very best I could (lots of research) to make the story authentic given that this was set before I was born and I am not from England, and for the most part people seemed to like it. However one commenter - who claimed to actually have been alive and in this location during this era - said that the reality was nothing like what I portrayed in my story, and that it was rubbish because of my poor knowledge and use of history. He could have advised me of what anachronisms or errors I made or decided the story was not for him and find another to read but no, he had to be a miserable old grouch.

I wouldn't worry about it. I've written stuff about times and places I literally lived in and been told that I'd gotten things wrong by people bitching that I obviously didn't know what I was talking about. People's memories are... like, there's a whole segment of neuroscience focused on just how fucked up memory is as a process/structure for encoding factual information. Don't sweat it.

 

[alohadave]

Maybe this is just a knock on linguists, which is fine by me, but split infinitives do exist: i.e. to carefully consider, to happily decline, etc. Whether it is now considered correct to use them has to do with if the writing is formal or informal, I think.

Sorry, yes. They do exist, but it's a normal thing in English

I wouldn't worry about it. I've written stuff about times and places I literally lived in and been told that I'd gotten things wrong by people bitching that I obviously didn't know what I was talking about. People's memories are... like, there's a whole segment of neuroscience focused on just how fucked up memory is as a process/structure for encoding factual information. Don't sweat it.

I agree. Unless it's a glaring mistake, like the microminiature spy cameras in 1965 from a story I read recently.

 

[KachinaDoll]

Alot. There's no such word. It's a lot.

 

[TheLobster]

Alot. There's no such word.

This alot would surely disagree!

 

[SimonDoom]

This alot would surely disagree!

View attachment 2375976

Alot and Abunch got together and before you know it they had a whole passel of Alittles, until they were gobbled up by a Hellno.

 

[Bramblethorn]

colour vs. color

it's this or get up and go to work

 

[RetroFan]

Hi @RetroFan,
I tried messaging you about this story, but you've disabled conversations. Message me if you'd like my feedback.

Hi Kumquatqueen - thanks for your reply. I'm not sure how to enable private conversations and I didn't even know mine was deactivated. I've noticed that when readers have sent private feedback to me about stories their email address appears on the email so am a bit concerned about this happening with my email address too if engaging in private conversations or sending private feedback to other writers.

I always like getting feedback on my stories in the comments section (unless of course I am told to go and kill myself or that they hope I get cancer and die), so would welcome any of your feedback against 'Banging Cousin Becky In Blackpool' or any of my other stories.

 

[alohadave]

Hi Kumquatqueen - thanks for your reply. I'm not sure how to enable private conversations and I didn't even know mine was deactivated. I've noticed that when readers have sent private feedback to me about stories their email address appears on the email so am a bit concerned about this happening with my email address too if engaging in private conversations or sending private feedback to other writers.

I always like getting feedback on my stories in the comments section (unless of course I am told to go and kill myself or that they hope I get cancer and die), so would welcome any of your feedback against 'Banging Cousin Becky In Blackpool' or any of my other stories.

They mean in the forum, not story-side feedback.

On this page change the Start Conversations with you setting to members: https://forum.literotica.com/account/privacy

On the story side, you can change your feedback email here: https://literotica.com/my/#/user/options

 

[RetroFan]

They mean in the forum, not story-side feedback.

On this page change the Start Conversations with you setting to members.

Thanks Aloha Dave, I'll check it out.

 

[AG31]

colour vs. color

it's this or get up and go to work

Isn't that just proper British vs proper American spelling?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Isn't that just proper British vs proper American spelling?

That's @Bramblethorn being a wind-up merchant. Or as you could say, Australian.

 

[StillStunned]

Isn't that just proper British vs proper American spelling?

There you go.