Word Confusion: Cereal versus Serial

Posted January 23, 2014 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
29 June 2023

Yes, I have run into a few of these cereal vs serial word confusions, but not many. I’m mostly doing a comparison ’cause I like the words . . .!

I do tend to devour books, and I particularly like serials, i.e., books in a series. Easy enough to notice if you look over my list of urban fantasy and paranormal romance series that I’ve read . . . *grin* . . . I have definitely been known to enjoy cookies and milk as I read, but you’ll never find me shredding a book into a bowl and pouring milk and sugar over it! Ick . . . the ink gets all blurry.

If you find you do have a problem telling the difference, remember that cereal and corn both start with a c.

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.

If you found this post on “Cereal versus Serial” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

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Cereal Serial

A color photo of the grains that can be ground up as flour and make muffins, cereal, breads, and cookies

Various Grains by Peggy Greb, USDA Agricultural Research Service, is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Cereal is made from grains.


Serial Console Cable, D-sub 25 Male and Female Connectors with DIP Switches Integrated-0366 is Raimond Spekking‘s own work and is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

Part of Grammar:
Adjective; Noun

Plural for the noun: cereals

Adjective; Noun

Plural for the noun: serials

Adjective:
Describes a type of container

Noun:
A grain used for food, such as wheat, oats, or corn

  • [Usually cereals] A grass producing such grain, grown as an agricultural crop
  • Breakfast food made from roasted grain, typically eaten with milk
Adjective:
Consisting of, forming part of, or taking place in a series

  • [Music] Using transformations of a fixed series of notes
  • [Computing; of a device] Involving the transfer of data as a single sequence of bits
  • [Computing; of a processor] Running only a single task, as opposed to multitasking
  • [Linguistics; of verbs] Used in sequence to form a construction
  • [Grammar] A comma used after the penultimate item in a list of three or more items, before and or or

[Of a criminal] Repeatedly committing the same offense and typically following a characteristic, predictable behavior pattern

  • [Of a person] Repeatedly following the same behavior pattern
  • Denoting an action or behavior pattern that is committed or followed repeatedly

Noun:
A story or play appearing in regular installments on television or radio or in a magazine or newspaper

  • [Usually serials; in a library] A periodical
Examples:
Adjective:
Grab those cereal boxes.

We had low yields for cereal crops this year.

Noun:
I just want a bowl of cereal.

I want cereal!

My favorite hot cereal in childhood was Cocoa Wheats.

Adjective:
Magazines are a type of serial publication.

They’re calling them serial killings now.

Elizabeth Taylor’s short marriages were a type of serial monogamy.

He’s a a suspected serial rapist.

He was a serial adulterer.

One example of using a serial comma is “an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect”.

Noun:
There’s a new three-part drama serial with Helen Mirren in it.

I recently finished a serial of David Weber’s Honorverse.

Someone suffering from OCD is exhibiting serial behavior.

“Serial tasking is a kind of hybrid between multitasking and singletasking” (Lee).

Derivatives:
Adjective: noncereal
Noun: noncereal
Adjective: nonserial
Adverb: nonserially, serially
Noun: nonserial, seriality
History of the Word:
Early 19th century, as an adjective, from the Latin cerealis, from Ceres, the name of the Roman goddess of agriculture. 1846 from series + -al, perhaps suggested by the French sérial.

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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.

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Resources for Cereal versus Serial

Apple Dictionary.com

Lee, Joel. “Single- vs. Multitasking: What’s Best for Productivity?” Make Use of.com. 5 August 2015. Web. n.d. <http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/single-vs-multitasking-whats-best-productivity/>.

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Pinterest Photo Credits

The “Cereal Killers” post by Mitchell Wells at Horror Society, is a crack-up with sixteen different cereals horrorfied by artist Joe Simko. If you like, you can buy Cereal Killer cards over at Wax-Eye.com. At the least, go have a look, lol. Image used with Simko’s permission.

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