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ERRORS OF MEASUREMENT

FOREIGN PLURAL ENDINGS

SPOONERISMS

ERRORS OF MEASUREMENT

Occasionally, one finds usage errors among words for measurements, quantities and frequencies.

among / between

"Between" literally means "positioned in the middle of two"; it contains the word "tween" in it, which is related to words like "twixt" and "two" and "twice." For that reason, it should be simple enough to remember that it applies only to two, and never more than that. The word "among" is derived from the same root word as "mingle" and used for more than two.

number / amount

"Number" is a countable unit; "amount" is an uncountable quantity. Noncount nouns are generally described in amounts, and count nouns are measured in numbers (e.g., "a pool of water" is measured as an amount, but "four liters of orange juice" is measured in numbers of liters). Learn more about Count and Non-count Nouns in the companion resource, The Mind of a Sentence: A Guide To Parts of Speech.

less(er) / few(er)

"Less" and "lesser" always go with amounts and noncount nouns ("less taxation"; "less population"), whereas "few" and "fewer" are used with numbers and count nouns ("fewer taxes"; "few people").

Measurements that are illogical or not real words (i.e., Malapropisms) sometimes find their way into common usage, but they are nonetheless solecisms--a term used to categorize an ungrammatical combination of words, or an improperly worded idiom. Theseare some of the most frequently occurring:

alot:
Firstly, "alot" is not a real word; the actual phrase is two words, "a lot"; secondly, "a lot" is considered a colloquial indefinite pronoun, based in a figure of speech. We know it's unusual because it's one of the few noun phrases that can also be used as an adverb (e.g., "He eats out a lot"). Its derivation is a little wonky, but nonetheless interesting. The term, "one's lot in life" refers to a technique of prognostication called "casting lots," in which a lot (a small object such as a pebble or a wooden die or a stick) is thrown, and the position in which it falls is interpreted to help respond to a question or make a prediction. If you're familiar with the practice of reading tea leaves, this is exactly the same. Words like "lottery" and "allotment" are related to this, and are connected to the practice of measuring one's fortune. Business owners obviously measure their fortune using a system of inventory and value. Hence, a "lot" is a general amount of worth--plain and simple. Now that you know why you use it, be sure you understand why not to use it.

reoccurring:
This malaprop is a corruption of "recurring" and "recurrent."

heighth:
The "th" ending of this word perhaps comes from its similarity to words like "width" and "breadth," but the actual word should be "height."

give a hundred and ten percent:
This cliche is also a hyperbole: since "one hundred percent" is an absolute already, one cannot give more unless it's taken from someone else. The idea of giving more than a hundred percent has, in recent decades, become even more hyperbolized, as people now arbitrarily surpass it with fictional amounts: "You all gave 157 percent!" When these kinds of silly and unreliable measurements show up in writing intended to be objective and reliable, they inevitably make the writer just as suspect as the writing.

second of all:
This phrase and others like it (third of all, etc.) are senseless hyperboles. There are only two superlative measurements: the first and the last. Anything in-between is just an ordinary ordinal number. Consider how "of all" is unnecessary in the following: "almost most of all" or "second to last of all." Phrases like "third of all" suffer the same unnecessary use of absolutes and, as such, should be considered a form of Mitigated Hyperbole.

up to and beyond:
Advertising has done more harm to language than just about any other source. Phrases like this one are contradictory measurements, since "up to" implies a set limit, and "beyond" removes it, rendering the statement altogether meaningless. Phrases such as "to infinity and beyond" are at least fun and ironic, but when such statements presume to gauge real measurements, you have to start gauging the writer's grasp of reality.

FOREIGN PLURAL ENDINGS

Some nouns have unusual plural forms, often because they are of direct Latin, Greek, or French origin, and this can lead to a certain kind of usage error. You can read more about these sorts of Noun Errors in the companion resource,The Mind Of a Sentence: A Guide To Parts Of Speech.

SPOONERISMS

Originally called "metathesis" by the ancient Greeks, spoonerisms typically result from the verbal mistake of transposing words, syllables or phonemes in a single turn of phrase, often with humorous effect:

The word "spoonerism" was coined by by Reverend William Archibald Spooner in the nineteenth century, to describe his own tendency for tongue-tied blunders, to which he was, apparently, very prone. We're all guilty of it, though, and some of us, like myself, do it when our brains start to become tired. However, spoonerisms can also be intentional word-play. Entertainer Dean Martin, whose shtick during the 1960s was as a smooth- talkin’, lovable lush, created spoonerisms as a way of affecting drunken speech for his character. His most famous spoonerism: "I'd rather have a free bottle in front of me, instead of a pre-frontal lobotomy."

Metathesis is actually quite common, and we smile when children write or say spoonerisms like "pasghetti" instead of "spaghetti," or "aminal" instead of "animal." We also laugh at them as foibles when adults use them, then switch out their next highball with a glass of seltzer. Sometimes they’re intended as parody: “bass ackward” or “dyslexics untie.” However, when credible adults stubbornly embrace them and treat them as if they're proper usage, they're no longer endearing. Fortunately, for these people, the problem of the spoonerism is largely a pronunciation issue, but occasionally writers will attempt to transliterate their spoonerisms and write them exactly as they say them. Then the faux pas cannot be masked so easily. The most common of these are:

Note: Though a transposition of letters or syllables is common to both, spoonerisms and dyslexia are not related phenomena. The latter is a documented reading disorder, while the former is more akin to a typo of pronunciation. You should never jump to the conclusion that you’re dyslexic simply because you’ve been guilty of spoonerisms. The originator of the term, himself, made no claim to having a reading disorder.