A great and enlightening essay. (Additionally, I have always blamed the confusion on Star Trek's phasers-set-to-stun. Perhaps they should have been fazers.)
Amazing that you could turn an essay about one of my most crazy-making pet peeves into a disquisition on some of my favorite words. (I had no idea it was possible to be recombobulated - how convenient!) This might be your best yet. But there's always next week.
I see the misuse of phase for faze part of a much larger pattern of homonym confusion. My dyslexic other half has zero clue about the spelling of almost all homonyms, which leads to constant punning that takes me much longer to get because they seem so different to me. It increases his sense of humor to perceive them equally.
Whether it’s increased diagnosis or something else, I know far more people who struggle with spelling. Grate for great; saw it just today. Perhaps spell check and voice-to-text exacerbate the problem.
Long ago I gave up (mostly) on people hyphenating properly. Heck, with my hyphenated last name, I’ve learned that tons of folks don’t even know what a hyphen is. Really.
I think the phase/faze confusion is different from, say, the hear/here confusion, in part because of Star Trek (see Benjamin Dreyer's comment) and in part because we don't see "faze" as often as "phase" (see Ngram graph). There may even be something about "ph-" that suggests a psychological state — maybe it's the influence of "phobia."
>There is a lot of money in playing e-sports and watching other people playing e-sports — and yes, what a weird world we live in
I guess? Though I'm not sure how it differs, really, from sitting on a couch with pay-per-view watching someone play golf or tennis. Full disclosure: my son is an esports coach at the high school where he teaches.
The difference (to me, anyway) is watching a screen on which other people are watching a screen. It seems like at least one screen too many. At least golfers and tennis players are touching grass, so to speak.
A great and enlightening essay. (Additionally, I have always blamed the confusion on Star Trek's phasers-set-to-stun. Perhaps they should have been fazers.)
Oh, excellent point.
Amazing that you could turn an essay about one of my most crazy-making pet peeves into a disquisition on some of my favorite words. (I had no idea it was possible to be recombobulated - how convenient!) This might be your best yet. But there's always next week.
'...cold lead.' I wish I could read the rest of that story.' Be my guest, ma'am. It is with much pleasure that I direct you to: https://www.google.fr/books/edition/The_Western_Monthly_Review/YGQAAAAAYAAJ
Thank you, Jonathon!
Absquatulate?
That's it; marry me.
I see the misuse of phase for faze part of a much larger pattern of homonym confusion. My dyslexic other half has zero clue about the spelling of almost all homonyms, which leads to constant punning that takes me much longer to get because they seem so different to me. It increases his sense of humor to perceive them equally.
Whether it’s increased diagnosis or something else, I know far more people who struggle with spelling. Grate for great; saw it just today. Perhaps spell check and voice-to-text exacerbate the problem.
Long ago I gave up (mostly) on people hyphenating properly. Heck, with my hyphenated last name, I’ve learned that tons of folks don’t even know what a hyphen is. Really.
So now I give the dyslexics grate slack. 🤪
I think the phase/faze confusion is different from, say, the hear/here confusion, in part because of Star Trek (see Benjamin Dreyer's comment) and in part because we don't see "faze" as often as "phase" (see Ngram graph). There may even be something about "ph-" that suggests a psychological state — maybe it's the influence of "phobia."
>There is a lot of money in playing e-sports and watching other people playing e-sports — and yes, what a weird world we live in
I guess? Though I'm not sure how it differs, really, from sitting on a couch with pay-per-view watching someone play golf or tennis. Full disclosure: my son is an esports coach at the high school where he teaches.
The difference (to me, anyway) is watching a screen on which other people are watching a screen. It seems like at least one screen too many. At least golfers and tennis players are touching grass, so to speak.