Homophonia: Not/Knot/Naught

Recently my husband and I worked on something together, and it didn't turn out the way we'd hoped. My husband forwarded me the rejection letter, and added, "I guess all that was for not."

Amazing, the power of email! It delivered a crushing blow and pointed out a common homophone trap.

Few people seem to have trouble with the obvious homophone pair not/knot. I remember being introduced to "silent K" in grade school, and it was weird enough for even the most slapdash speller to remember. (Or maybe it only struck me because the K in my last name is ferociously NOT silent. Even at a young age I'd had to correct adults numerous times on its pronunciation and bear the brunt of awe, annoyance, or condescension over it.)

Without the K, it's a necessary grammatical element of negation, and with the K, it's the result of tying things.

The word my husband was looking for, however, was "naught." It comes from the Old English, so it's about 1500 years old and still going. A composite of "no" and "thing," we witness its origin in the phrase "not a whit." It and its variant "nought" are still used widely in non-American Anglophone locations. For us Yanks, it's been relegated to phrases and situations like the one my husband was describing: Tons of effort and expectation that end up coming to naught.

And yes, "naught" is where we get "naughty." Something to do with zero moral value, perhaps?

May I Compliment You on Your Complement? Homophones

Now that I've finished the final proofread of No Turning Back, I've found out a few shockers about my writing habits. One, I always type "lead" when I mean the past tense of that verb (that likely comes from a deep-seated psychological story in my head having to do with how I learned to spell "dead"), and two, I always write the wrong version of the homophone pair compliment/complement first, then have to go back and correct it. After checking which one is correct.

So, I though perhaps if I outline the difference between them, it would help me as much as anyone else.

A compliment (noun), with the i, is something spoken in praise of a person or thing. First and foremost, something is complimentary when it's given free of charge. As in the picture above, it's given as a gift, sent with greetings and good wishes. That meaning of the word evolved into the praise we use it as today, and "with our compliments" predates that change. The now easily transitions into a verb now, as in "They complimented her dress." When applied to people, complimentary is often closely related to flattering.

Or, you can do as the theatre folk do, and just say that the free tickets given to certain audience members are "comps." Then there's no worry about whether to use an e or an i.

On the other side, a complement (noun) is something that is complete. It takes the e from that word and brings to mind shades of Jerry McGuire. So, for example, we can have the full complement of personnel in attendance. The personnel roster is complete at that time. The first attested use of complementary was in the phrase "complementary colors." In this case, the colors complement (verb) each other, which is to say that they bring about a contrasting balance that creates a sort of whole within the color spectrum.

So, Renee Zellweger complements Tom Cruise in the above-mentioned movie, although I don't recall them giving each other a lot of compliments.

The best mnemonic device I've come up with is the title of this post. "May I compliment you on your complement?" meaning something like, "May I praise your completeness?"

Eligibly Illegible (A Pair of Near Homophones)

"The X Book Contest is open to voting between December 31 and February 27. Both of my books are illegible."

--Author Unattributed for His/Her Protection

I was surprised (and, I admit, I laughed and laughed) by the error here caused by trouble with spelling similar-sounding words. The writer meant to indicate that the books were eligible.

Both of these words are Latinate, and perhaps therefore inherently confusing. 

Eligible is an adjective meaning that the noun is able to be elected or selected.

Illegible is an adjective meaning that the text in question cannot be read for any number of reasons.

It's important to distinguish between e and i sounds, and to intervene with a critical eye when SpellCheck messes with them, or else a book that readers can choose may become unreadable. There is no worse fate for any book!

Have You Peaked or Are You Piqued? More Homophones

Here's a triple homophone for you.

Peak first came into written English in the middle of the sixteenth century. As a noun, the picture above illustrates it well: the highest point of anything, in the literal or figurative sense. The verb is used to describe someone or something reaching its literal or figurative highest point: The quality of printing peaked with the Gutenberg Bible and has been going downhill ever since.

Pique has been a member of English for nearly as long, but still maintains the look of its French origin. As a verb, it means to provoke, often to provoke to irritation: Their bad grammar piqued her to distraction. More commonly, the verb is used in the passive voice: She was piqued to distraction by their bad grammar. It also means to excite, as in the set phrase "to pique one's curiosity." The noun refers to the state of irritation, resentment or wounded pride resulting from having been piqued: The grammar teacher's students sent her into a fit of pique never before seen in the history of the school.

And of course, the last peek has to do with looking at something for a short amount of time. Few seem to have trouble spelling this one, perhaps because of things like peek-a-boo and "sneak peeks."

So as you can see, the three words have little to do with each other, unless someone reaches the peak of his pique as a result of being peeked at.

A Grisly/Grizzly Sight?

Is this a grisly or a grizzly sight? Maybe both...

Lately I've come across a certain misused pair of homophones in published books, and wanted to use this space to muse on it.

Something grisly causes horror in the viewer: We shuddered at the grisly sight of a dehorned rhino. Grisly is a word with a long history in English, being Anglo-Saxon in origin.

Grizzly is a newer word, at least 500 years younger than grisly. It refers to something grey or greyish, normally hair: By the end of his presidency, any man's hair will be more grizzly than it was at the beginning. Grizzly bears, as you can see in the picture above, develop a layer of grey hair.

Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but grey hair doesn't automatically make me shudder, which is to say that it usually isn't grisly, just grizzly.

So, while you might find the sight of a roaring grizzly bear also a bit grisly (but you should probably look for a less similar word), a gruesome murder is usually not grizzly except in the most absurd literature.