(no subject)

[catslash]

THE FOLLOWING IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT.

DISCREET: Subtle, careful, under the radar. She discreetly pushed her bra strap back under her shirt. (Is it possible to do this discreetly? I haven't figured out how. But I digress.)

DISCRETE: Separate and individual. I will steal Merriam-Webster's example because I have way less practice using this in a sentence: There are several discrete sections to this vast medical complex, including a college of pharmacology and a research center.

If you need a trick to remember it, try thinking of the E's in "discrete" being two discrete units, separated as they are by the T.

Please. Stop making this mistake. It's almost as bad as loose/lose, and it is damn embarrassing to see when I know for a fact that the person doing it is too smart to get tripped up by homonyms HOMOPHONES see I'm not perfect either, nothing wrong with that.

That is all.

Comments

[catslash.livejournal.com]

You may want to run a quick CTRL+F on the Girardi/Farnsworth fic. Just saying.

[americanleaguer.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, given how quickly I wrote and posted that, I'd be surprised if that was the only typo. Why don't people ever point these things out? I know people read it, you can't have been the only person to catch it.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

I don't know! I didn't comment myself because the only thing I had to say was "this was a satisfactory reading experience," which I consider pretty useless as far as feedback goes, but it is true that people tend not to point out typos. Maybe it's a politeness thing? I feel weird about pointing out errors if the writer hasn't specifically asked for that. Or, when I am moved to give feedback, it's generally because I'm excited about the story itself, so I'm not thinking about the mechanical errors. I will do so for you in future, though.

[americanleaguer.livejournal.com]

idk, maybe it bothers other people, but if it's a typo, I'd prefer to be alerted to it. I don't generally use betas or anything like that, so a fresh set of eyes is sometimes the only way I'll catch some of this stuff (especially the kind that doesn't flag spellcheck).

I guess it would be kind of rude to give unsolicited feedback like, "THAT IS NOT KYLE FARNSWORTH, WHAT A TERRIBLE CHARACTERIZATION, YOU'VE DONE IT ALL WRONG," but spelling I consider fair game, since it's usually just fingers typing faster than the brain is following or whatever.

Which is also why I would put something like discreet/discrete, or lose/loose, where/were, etc, in a different category from their/they're/there or your/you're errors... the former can be simple mechanical or spelling errors, especially when typing quickly, but the latter are more likely to be actual usage mistakes.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like having my typos pointed out, too - otherwise I probably won't spot them myself for months, or I'll never see them at all.

I know I keep harping on loose/lose, but it's so ubiquitous online that I don't think it can be attributed to mostly typos. I think there are a lot of internet users who honestly think "lose" has two O's, because that error is just SO common. I'll admit that I've hesitated over it a couple times myself when I'm tired, because I see it so often that even though I know it's wrong, my brain is starting to accept it despite my input. Which is probably why I'm complaining about it so much, because that's embarrassing for me.