Word Confusion: Porch versus Porsche

Posted April 17, 2014 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
24 Sept 2022

It’s been a few years since I read that line in a novel, that the valets were parking all sorts of luxury vehicles: a Lamborghini, Maseratis, Rolls Royces, Porches . . . Screeeeeech . . . yup, that’s me brakes comin’ on . . . porch? How in god’s name does one park a porch? And ain’t it scary that this is the line that is most memorable to me about the book?

Naturally an image of a lovely farmhouse sort of porch came to mind . . . it was a warm blue-gray clapboard siding, a few steps up to a porch lined with pots of red geraniums, hanging ferns, and a white balustraded railing, a couple of old-time rockers angled in towards each other . . .

Yeah, not the image the author was going for . . . I think.

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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Porch	Porsche
338 Washington Avenue, Washington-Willow Historic District, Fayetteville, Arkansas, is Brandonrush’s own work under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — This porch will go from 0 to 60 in never.	1964 Porsche 911 is Agus964’s own work under the GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0 licenses, via Wikimedia Commons.
Part of Grammar:
Noun Plural: porches	Proper Noun Plural: Porsches
A covered shelter projecting in front of the entrance of a building A veranda The portico or stoa in the agora of ancient Athens, where the Stoic philosopher Zeno of Citium and his followers met [Obsolete] A portico	High-performance sports and racing cars originally produced by Ferdinand Porsche’s company, and to his designs
Examples:
I love sitting out on the porch during a rainstorm. Mary’s out on the porch with Joe. I love a porch that wraps around the sides of a house.	A Porsche is a classic sports car coveted by men. The 356 Porsche is the root of the Porsche look. Porsche is currently the world’s largest race car manufacturer (Porsche).
Derivatives:
Adjective: porched, porchless Noun: underporch
History of the Word:
Middle English from the Old French porche, which is from the Latin porticus meaning colonnade, from porta meaning passage.	1948 is when Ferdinand Porsche and his son first began to build Porsche sports cars (Porsche.com (http://press.porsche.com/more_about/history)).

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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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