Revised as of
8 Sept 2022
I suspect someone got carried away, confusing bier for beer. Maybe the author had been drinking a lot of German bier and simply forgot that a German pilsner didn’t fit his character’s personality, especially since the boys were all drinkin’ Buds, ahem.
Certainly reading about bier while the “warrior” was rocking out with his buds in an American biker bar wrecked my mood as thoughts of funerals leapt up in my brain. Did not make for a partying atmosphere.
It’s not just about choosing the proper spelling for a word, but choosing the right word that suits the setting, the characters, and the mood. After all bier does mean beer, but as you can see from above, the characters in this story were not the type to be drinking bier. Maybe if they’d been in a German bar . . .
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Beer | Bier |
|---|---|
Export hell seidel steiner by Hans Wastlhuber User:Cointel is his own work under the CC-BY-SA-2.5 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — A mug of beer is a mug of beer . . . |
John Paul II Lying on His Bier by Eric Draper is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — Pope John Paul II lying in state on his bier. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun
Plural: beers |
Noun
Plural: biers |
| Alcoholic beverage made by brewing and fermentation from cereals, usually malted barley, and flavored with hops and the like for a slightly bitter taste
Any of various beverages, whether alcoholic or not, made from roots, molasses or sugar, yeast, etc. An individual serving of beer A glass, can, or bottle of beer [Modifier] Relating to or used in the drinking of beer [Modifier] In which beer is drunk, especially of licensed premises having a license to sell beer |
Frame or stand on which a corpse or the coffin containing it is laid before burial
|
| Examples: | |
| I want a root beer float.
Mary finally tried ginger beer. I’ll buy a round of beers Let’s get a keg of beer Certain beers need particular beer glasses to taste their best. You better use a beer mat. When in Germany, visit a beer garden. |
They carried his bier high so that all could see him.
And so the dwarves laid Snow White out upon a bier and wept for her. They placed the coffin on the bier. The whole town followed the bier to the cemetery. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: beery, beerier, beeriest Adverb: beerily Noun: beeriness |
|
| History of the Word: | |
| Its first known use was before 1000.
Middle English bere,the Old English bēor. It’s related to the Old Saxon, the Old High German bior, the Middle Low German, the Middle Dutch bēr and the Dutch, the German Bier (Old Norse bjōrr). |
Its first known use was before 900.
Middle English bere, the Old English bēr, bǣr. It’s related to the Old High German bēra (German Bahre), Dutch, Danish baar, and Swedish bår; spelling influenced by the French bière. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Beer versus Bier
The Free Dictionary: bier
Pinterest Photo Credits
Ayr Coffin by TheBourtreehillian is in the public domain and Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen by Scott A. Miller is under the CC BY 3.0 license; both are via Wikimedia Commons.
