Revised as of
14 Jan 2023
I know how to cook, but I’m still acquiring the know-how, the ability to look at the ingredients in my fridge and put together a meal based on just that. The know-how to pull out the right seasonings to turn a bland meal into an enjoyable one.
It’s odd, as I have the “know-how” to taste the high, mid-, and low tones of the spices in a dish, to know that something is missing, unbalanced. Or, in the best circumstances, that it is balanced. But I’m horrible at creating something without recipes. I lack that know-how.
Somehow, know has a number of conflicts within homonyms, and you may want to explore other posts that include know or no, including Know versus No, Knows vs Noes vs Nose, and Knew versus New.
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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| Know How | Know-how |
|---|---|
Jungle Mission 3 is Druyt’s own work under the CC-BY-SA-3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — You don’t know how lost you really are. |
Wok Cooking and the Heat Source by The Pocket from Nanjin, China (Flickr) is under the CC-BY-2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — It takes expertise — know-how — to cook and season with a wok. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Verb Phrase
Third person present verb: knows how |
Hyphenated compound word
Noun Plural: know-how |
| To understand the method | Practical ability or knowledge
Expertise Ingenuity, aptitude, or skill
Commercial and salable knowledge of how to do a particular thing
The fact or state of knowing |
| Examples: | |
| I know how to boil water.
I don’t know how to knit well. Do you know how to change the oil in your car? She knows how to get the most out of a few dollars. Hey, girl, you know how we do. |
Know-how and a little luck will see us through.
It takes know-how to run a truck that size. She has the know-how to invest her money well. Our employees who have been us for a number of years have the know-how that cannot be taught in school. You gain know-how with every job you take on. I’m sorry but we’re looking for someone who already has the know-how. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: knowable Adverb: knowingly Noun: ken, knower Verb: ken, known, knowing Verb, modal: can |
|
| History of the Word: | |
| Unknown. | An Americanism coined between 1830–40 in a noun use of the verb phrase know how |
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 Know How versus know-how
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: know-how
Pinterest Photo Credits:
I Don’t Know How It Works! by The_Doodler (Flickr: “I don’t know how it works!”) is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license and WIM 2004 Balloons is Dominik Schäfer’s own work under the CC BY-SA 2.0 de license. Both are via Wikimedia Commons.
