Word Confusion: Genes versus Jeans

Posted February 6, 2014 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
6 July 2023

It is possible that I interpreted the sentence incorrectly, but I should think only a story focusing on forensics or murder investigation could truly get away with someone wearing their genes. I suppose it could have been a poetic attempt to say the person looked like their parents, but . . . that would be a stretch.

Especially since the genes was preceded by blue . . . and they weren’t talkin’ about her eyes. It’d be more real as blue jeans.

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 “Genes versus Jeans” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

Return to top

Genes	Jeans
Nucleosome1 is Thomas Splettstoesser’s own work under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Molecular surface of histones is shown in blue and the DNA in orange, all of which are a part of our genes.	Pair of Blue Blood Jeans by Theorb is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Part of Grammar:
Plural form for gene Noun Plural: genes	Adjective ¹; Noun, ², ³
[Biology] A part of a cell that controls or influences the appearance, growth, etc., of a living thing [Informal use] A unit of heredity that is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic(s) of the offspring [In technical use] A distinct sequence of nucleotides forming part of a chromosome, the order of which determines the order of monomers in a polypeptide or nucleic acid	Adjective: Describes the type of fabric of a garment ¹ Noun: [Plural noun] Hard-wearing trousers made of denim or other cotton fabric, for informal wear. When blue, the typical color of jeans, they are also called blue jeans ² [Singular noun] Heavy twilled cotton cloth, especially denim ³ [In commercial use] A pair of jeans
Examples:
Proteins coded directly by genes. She got her genes from her mother. The genes will always tell.	Adjective: I inherited my big brother’s jean jacket. I found this great jean bag. It was a jeans duster. Noun: She got her jeans from her mother; they do wear the same size. I love my jeans. My sister adores her button-fly jeans.
Derivatives:
Adjective: gene-altered, genetic, genetical, hypergenetic, hypergenetical Adverb: genetically, hypergenetically Noun: genesis, genealogy, hypergeneticalness	Adjective: jeaned
History of the Word:
Early 20th century from the German Gen, which is from Pangen, a supposed ultimate unit of heredity from the Greek pan-, or all + genos meaning race, kind, offspring.	Late 15th century, from the Old French Janne (now Gênes), from the medieval Latin Janua, or Genoa, the place of its original production. Mid-19th century plural of jean. 16th century from jean fustian, which literally means fustian from Genoasin.

Return to top

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.

Return to top