Another way or no way
August 14th, 2008 at 07:00am Barry Wood
Here’s another example of easily confused near homonyms: “detour” and “deter.”
The former means “to go around” or “to bypass,” and the latter means “to keep or discourage from doing something.”
We’ve all seen detour signs, especially this time of year at the height of road construction season. This connection with traffic makes “detour” an enticing choice when referring to trying to “deter” someone from hazardous driving pratices, but “deter” is the correct choice.
Noun forms are “deterrent” and “deterrence,” the latter also having a specific use as “the policy or practice of stockpiling nuclear weapons to deter another nation from making a nuclear attack.”
So “detour” is to alter the route and “deter” is to head off the journey.
Entry Filed under: Uncategorized
4 Comments Add your own
1. Jim O'Neill | August 14th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Or, as little Tattoo used to say….”De Plane is carrying de passengers on de tour to Paradise Island.”
2. Barry Wood | August 15th, 2008 at 12:30 am
You just can’t have too many references to classic TV shows.
3. Leonardo duh Vinci | August 22nd, 2008 at 11:35 am
Maybe sometime you could wax forth on using ANYWAY and
ANYHOW properly.
4. Barry Wood | August 26th, 2008 at 1:08 am
Some usage experts frown on using “anyhow” as a synonym for “anyway.” “Garner’s Modern American Usage,” for example, calls it “a folksy casualism.” Webster’s doesn’t seem to mind it. Both agree, however, that “anyways,” with an added “s,” is a dialectical variation, which is generally considered inferior is most cases.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed