Revised as of
11 July 2023
I was experimenting with creating my own Pinterest pins, and naturally explored a variety of sites for ideas and sizes. And I was horrified at how many of these sites were upset. They kept repining! It made me want to cry for them.
Well, okay, the part I wanted to cry about was the repining, as it’s simply too sad that so many websites aren’t aware of the difference between feeling remorse and attaching. That is what one does with a Pinterest pin. Attach it. Or indulge in the act of repinning. As in to re-attach an interesting picture and pin it to your own board at Pinterest.
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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| Repining | Repinning |
|---|---|
L’Ukrainienne, 1875, is an oil painting by Ilya Répin in the public domain in the Musée Pouchkine in Moscow, via Wikiart.org. — She certainly appears to be repining. |
Pinning by philentropist is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via VisualHunt. — Repinning the hem. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Gerund or present participle for repine
Verb, intransitive & transitive Third person present verb: repines |
Gerund or present participle for repin
Verb Third person present verb: repins |
| Verb, intransitive: To be discontented or low in spirits
To yearn after something: Verb, transitive: Fret |
Re-attach or re-fasten with a pin or pins in a specified position |
| Examples: | |
| Verb, intransitive: You mustn’t let yourself repine. “Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation, that she could, upon the whole, have no cause to repine” (Sundriyal, 172). She was repining for the days she spent dancing in the woods. She was alone and unloved, but she did not repine. Verb, transitive: “It would seem to be the main business of man to repine at government” (Irving). Oh, darling, there is no use repining after a lost love. |
Gain exposure for your page by liking and repinning on a regular basis.
Mary’s repinning the dress now. The doctor repinned the bandage. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: unrepined, unrepining Noun: repiner |
|
| History of the Word: | |
| Early 16th century from re- meaning again + the verb pine, along the lines of repent. | Late Old English pinn, which is related to the Dutch pin meaning pin, peg, from the Latin pinna meaning point, tip, edge. |
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 Repining versus Repinning
Some of these links may be affiliate links, and I will earn a small percentage, if you should buy it. It does not affect the price you pay.
Apple Dictionary.com
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. T. Egerton: Whitehall, London: 1813. Global Publishers: 2022. <https://amzn.to/3v8kFqK>. Ebook.
The Free Dictionary: repine
Irving, Washington. Tales of a Traveller. H.C. Cary & I. Lee, Philadelphia: 1824. Project Gutenberg: 2004. <https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13514/13514-h/13514-h.htm>. Ebook.
Sundriyal, Ankita. “Admiration to Love, Love to Matrimony: A Russellian reading of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.” Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics. vol 42. no. 1. <https://bit.ly/3BSLPFW>. Essay.
Pinterest Photo Credits
Never Morning Wore to Evening but Some Heart Did Break by Walter Langley is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Photographed by DwH1ilq-MsEMwQ at the Google Cultural Institute. This photograph is a derivative, as it was resized in Photoshop.
