Similar word confusion

Could you give an example, NanKate? I can't say I've come across that - or if I have it hasn't been noted by my pedant's ear!

Yes, I've heard that, too NanKate. It was on either the tv or the radio recently.

This is slightly off piste, but I get SO annoyed at the lack of proper sentence construction, especially when it completely alters the meaning of what's written.

e.g. quote from today's DM. "Six month old Freddie Summersgill, from Billingham, County Durham, has been wearing a special helmet to cure his flat head for a month"

So, was he wearing the helmet for six months, or will it cure his flat head for six months?

Answers on a postcard . . .

"Moot" and "mute"!

"Alternate" and "alternative" - wrong so often, and mildly irritating.

I will give it a go Ana explaining the difference, with the help of the Internet

Graceful relates to beauty of movement, style, form.

Gracious relates to kindness and courtesy or describes behaviour in a particular situation.

Examples - the ballet dance moved gracefully across the floor.
- he was a very gracious host (as in courteous)

The error in speech usually comes when the word graceful
is used when it should be gracious. Most people seem to understand the meaning of graceful.

The hostess on Strictly who irritates me Tess something used the word incorrectly when she was complimenting someone for their attitude on losing one of the rounds.

'She was very graceful when she lost that round' when it should have been gracious.

I think this all proves I have become a grumpy old woman and when it comes down to it many people wouldn't give a hoot about incorrect English.

Clearly Mini as well as meeting up on Limericks we both have a thing about spoken and written English.

I can never remember whether 'undulating' means flat, or up and down. And is there such a word as 'dulating'?

jingl You could think of the un as if you're sliding down the u and up to the n, then you've got hills - if you see what I mean! - so not flat.

Yes, NanKate, I understand all that, but there is the expression 'to be graceful in defeat'. Perhaps Tess meant that, but it sounded wrong somehow...

Latin word for wave is 'unda'. The verb to undulate comes from that.

racism and racialism

discrete and discreet

Well, I never knew that Ana, and I was pretty good at English. I just thought discrete was an American spelling!

I always thought it was 'be humble in victory, gracious in defeat.' Not heard that version ie gracehul, before.

www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/graceful

Procrastinate and prevaricate.

Makes sense. 'Graceful in defeat'. She could have lain on her back, kicking her legs in the air and screaming. But she was "graceful".

Very nice.

My English teacher walked into the classroom one day and wrote on the blackboard:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Continual

______________ Continuous

That's good, crun. I'm always confused by those two! Now I just have to find a way of fixing that image in my head...

Oh! I just have! Alphabetically - that might work.

Uninterested and disinterested.

It's annoying isn't it but uninterested seems almost to have disappeared from the language?

It just sounds a bit awkward - probably a lot of people think disinterested is just a posher version.

Seems both gracious and graceful are being accepted 'in defeat' Ana

www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/gracious