Revised as of
29 June 2023
Actually, I gave up being Catholic with a big “C” and shifted over to a greater love, catholic with a little “c” in this capitonym. Yep, I much prefer the flavors of being a lowercase catholic, after all, I am very catholic in my tastes, as I prefer the pleasures of this world with its books, travel, wine and foods, music, and more.
Nooo, it does not mean you’re a bigger/better Catholic than me . . .!
It’s not to say that being Catholic is a bad thing. It’s just a different preference. More churchgoing and bible reading with an emphasis on the scriptural. I’d say that both big “C” and lower “c” are a spiritual love; only, they’re going in different directions.
It’s a rare word confusion as most people aren’t aware of it. The most useful point of this particular post on Word Confusions is simply to make writers aware of it as the difference between them could have such repercussions in how people perceive the sentence.
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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| catholic | Catholic |
|---|---|
Kathy’s catholic Tastes are a derivative of Cognac by PDPhotos, which is in the public domain, via Pixabay. — Carrot Cake has no machine-readable author, but Dbenbenn is assumed (based on copyright claims) and is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license; Emerson, Lake & Palmer is Gorupdebesanez’s own work under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license; and, Discover Scuba Diving, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, is Summitandbeach’s own work under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. All three are via Wikimedia Commons. Vietnamese Junk is Bernard Gagnon‘s own work under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. Shakespeare & Company Bookshop by gadl is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via VisualHunt. |
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Bethlehem Catholic Mass 1633s by James Emery from Douglasville, United States, is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Sunday morning Mass at the Church of St. Catherine, next to the Church of the Nativity. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Adjective | Noun
Plural: Catholics |
| Especially in reference to a person’s tastes, including a wide variety of things
All-embracing A wide ranging or inclusive attitude |
Member of the Roman Catholic Church
Of or including all Christians Of or relating to the historic doctrine and practice of the Western Church |
| Examples: | |
| He certainly has some catholic tastes.
He was known for his catholic tastes in music. |
Father Joseph is a Catholic priest.
It’s Catholic doctrine. The French are still primarily Catholic. The Catholic Church is under siege for poor choices in the past. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: supercatholic Adverb: catholically, catholicly, pseudocatholically, supercatholically Noun: catholicity, catholicalness, catholicness |
Adjective: anti-Catholic, non-Catholic, pro-Catholic, pseudo-Catholic Noun: anti-Catholic, Catholicism, non-Catholic, pro-Catholic, pseudo-Catholic |
| History of the Word: | |
| The first known use was in the 14th century.
Late Middle English from the Old French catholique or the late Latin catholicus, from the Greek katholikos meaning universal, from kata (with respect to) + holos (whole). |
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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 catholic versus Catholic
Apple Dictionary.com
Pinterest Photo Credits
In the public domain are Cognac by PDPhotos, via Pixabay, and the titled Cross on Grey Backgroundvia VisualHunt. The author for Carrot Cake is assumed to be Dbenbenn (based on copyright claims) and is under the CC-BY-SA-3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. The backgrounds were removed from all images.
