Language Facts & Figures: Family Resemblances & False Relations

Our latest roundup of facts, figures, and wild hunches about the English language focuses on pairs of words that may appear to have more in common than they actually do. (Previous roundups appear in our Grammar & Composition Forum.) In some cases, a word's history (or etymology) may provide a clue to its present-day meaning. But we need to be cautious: over the course of centuries, definitions can change significantly.

• Dual and Duel
  Dual, which means "double" or "twofold," is a cousin of the noun duo: both are descendants of the Latin word for "two." So a person with "dual citizenship" has an allegiance to two countries at the same time. The noun or verb duel, on the other hand, comes from a Latin word for "war," and it means "formal combat." Duel is the title of an early Steven Spielberg movie--the story of a businessman who's terrorized by the driver of a massive tractor-trailer.


• Faint and Feint
  Our spell-checkers won't recognize the difference between these homophones, but we should be able to. Both words entered English by way of an Old French word meaning "feign," but their meanings have gone separate ways. As a verb faint means "to lose consciousness"; as an adjective it means "weak" or "timid." (Erma Bombeck once claimed that her "favorite household chore" was hitting her head on a bunk bed until she fainted.) Feint, as a noun or verb, involves tricking an opponent with a deceptive move. Boxers and politicians tend to indulge in this sort of feinting.


• Flair and Flare
  The noun flair comes from a Latin word that means "to give off an odor." Nowadays the English flair means a natural talent or ability" (as in a flair for decorating). As a noun, flare denotes "a bright light"; as a verb, it means "to blaze out." The origin of flare is unknown.


• Flaunt and Flout
  Exactly where these two words came from is a bit of a mystery, but according to The American Heritage Dictionary their distinct meanings are worth keeping straight:

  Flaunt as a transitive verb means “to exhibit ostentatiously”: She flaunted her wealth. To flout is “to show contempt for”: She flouted the proprieties. For some time now flaunt has been used in the sense “to show contempt for,” even by educated users of English. This usage is still widely seen as erroneous and is best avoided.

  "If you've got it, flaunt it," the saying goes--but in the process don't flout the law.


• Interment and Internment
  The Latin word for "earth" is still buried in the noun interment ("the act or ritual of burying"), while the Latin for "internal" resides in internment ("confinement"). For interment, think "graveyard"; for internment, "prison."


• Livid and Lurid
  Both of these adjectives originally had something to do with color, but that's where the similarity ends. Livid (from the Latin word for "bluish") most commonly means "extremely angry." Lurid (from the Latin for "pale") generally means "gruesome" or "marked by sensationalism." In the tabloids, an irate person is frequently described as livid, while the details of a grisly crime may be characterized as lurid.

More Words About Words:

• Choosing the Correct Word: Clearing Up Common Confusions
• Review Quiz: Commonly Confused Words
• Fifteen Common Errors and How to Fix Them

Are there any questions or suggestions? If so, please send them our way. And visit our Grammar & Composition Forum for past installments of Language Facts & Figures.