Quiz on Commonly Confused Words: Hollywood Comedies Edition

You know the drill: ten questions, two minutes, correct answers at the end of the post. (For explanations, examples, and exercises, follow the links to our Glossary of Usage: Index of Commonly Confused Words.)

1. Avocations or Vocations
   "You may go if you wish. But remember this: walk away now, and you walk away from your crafts, your skills, your _____, leaving the next generation with nothing but recycled, digitally-sampled techno-grooves, quasi-synth rhythms, pseudo-songs of violence-laden gangsta-rap, acid pop, and simpering, saccharine, soulless slush."
   (Dan Aykroyd as Elwood Blues in Blues Brothers 2000, 1998)


2. Contemptible or Contemptuous
   "In spite of the juvenile snickers of some, this is a serious matter. That seducer and despoiler must be stopped; he's extremely dangerous. And, Mr. Carter, I'm certain that everyone in this room knows who that is. He's a _____ little pervert."
   (Nancy Parsons as Balbricker in Porky's, 1982)


3. Criterion or Criteria
   "Let me tell you something about women. . . . They say they want romance, they say they want true love, but all they want is a check list. Is he perfect? Is he handsome? Is he a doctor? For you men who fit the _____, don't kid yourselves."
   (Gerard Butler as Mike Chadway in The Ugly Truth, 2009)


4. Discreet or Discrete
   "I'm very _____, but I will haunt your dreams."
   (Jane Lynch as Paula in The 40 Year Old Virgin, 2005)


5. Exhort or Extort
   "Carmine, I don't think it's right that you should _____ money from the college."
   (John Vernon as Dean Vernon Wormer in Animal House, 1978)


6. Medal, Metal, or Mettle
   "I can sum it all up in just one word: courage, dedication, daring, pride, pluck, spirit, grit, _____, and g-u-t-s--guts."
   (Lloyd Bridges as Steven McCroskey in Airplane II: The Sequel, 1982)


7. Nutritional or Nutritious
   "Bless this highly _____, microwavable macaroni-and-cheese dinner and the people who sold it on sale. Amen."
   (Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister in Home Alone, 1990)


8. Patience or Patients
   "How do you have _____ for people who claim they love America but clearly can't stand Americans?"
   (Annette Bening as Sydney Ellen Wade in The American President, 1995)


9. Perpetrates or Perpetuates
   "This whole baby thing baffles me, I mean you have it, you raise it, you inevitably screw it up, it resents you, feels guilty for resenting you and then it has a baby, which only _____ the vicious cycle."
   (Demi Moore as Samantha Albertson in Now and Then, 1995)


10. Sic or Sick
    "Three big [guys], and they lust wimp blood, so quit bugging me or I'll _____ them all over your weenie ass."
    (Molly Ringwald as Samantha Baker in Sixteen Candles, 1984)

Answers

1. vocations
2. contemptible
3. criteria
4. discreet
5. extort
6. mettle
7. nutritious
8. patience
9. perpetuates
10. sic

More Quizzes on Commonly Confused Words:

• Quiz on Commonly Confused Words (Winter 2011)
• The Big Quiz on Commonly Confused Words
• A Quick Quiz on Commonly Confused Words: 20 Proverbs

Image: Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister in the film Home Alone (20th Century Fox, 1990)