Saturday, April 28, 2007

WORD A DAY

TURBID: 1: clouded or discolored by sediment 2: characterized by or producing obscurity (as of mind or emotions)

"Turbid" and "turgid" (which means "swollen or distended" or "overblown, pompous, or bombastic") are two words so frequently mistaken for one another that they could have been invented to keep dictionary makers in buisness. Not only do they differ by only a letter, but, adding to the confusion, they are often used in contexts where either word might fit. For example, a flooded stream can be simultaneously cloudy and swollen, and badly written prose is often both obscure and graniloquent. Nevertheless, the disticntion between the two words, however fine, is an important one for conveying exact shades of meaning, so it's a good idea to keep them straight.

No comments:


Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 24 January 2007 This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact John @ JohnH985@gmail.com. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. We believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post will be clearly identified as paid or sponsored content. The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question. This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest. To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org/