Word Confusion: Personal versus Personnel

Posted May 30, 2016 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

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I have no words for this one. I can only hope that it’s a personal problem for the writer . . . probably because he or she is using . . . gasp . . . spellcheck . . . It could, of course, be a personnel problem, i.e., the writer is using a nonprofessional to do the editing or proofreading. I know, I know . . . miaou!

I think part of my cattiness this morning is a book I just finished reading in which the writer left off all sorts of prepositions and articles and wasn’t paying attention to tenses. Oh, the story was cute enough, but I kept being thrown off by the missing bits and pieces. Oy.

Then again, maybe it was the personnel with whom the writer was getting personal . . .

Had to add this bit . . . We got a memo going on and on that no one is to be using personnel phone numbers to contact the manager. The fact that we had no access to personnel files to get personnel numbers, we all would have been confused except for the fact that this manager is renowned for never proofreading.

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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Personal	Personnel
The Bathers Progress Postcard Series is courtesy of the Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons and has no restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons. — I guess this young girl’s bathing has become a lot more personal than she expected.	TVA Agriculture Division Office Personnel is from the US National Archives and Records Administration and is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons while the photographer is unknown.
Part of Grammar:
Adjective ¹; Noun ² Plural: personal, personals	Noun Plural: personnel
Adjective: Of, affecting, or belonging to a particular person rather than to anyone else ¹ One or made by a particular person Involving the actual presence or action of a particular individual Of or concerning one’s private life, relationships, and emotions rather than matters connected with one’s public or professional career Referring to an individual’s character, appearance, or private life, especially in a hostile or critical way Of or relating to a person’s body [Grammar] Of or denoting one of the three persons (See the post on “Personal Pronouns“.) Existing as a self-aware entity, not as an abstraction or an impersonal force Noun: [Chiefly North American] An advertisement or message in the personal column of a newspaper ² [personals] Another term for personal column	People employed in an organization or engaged in an organized undertaking such as military service Short for personnel department Human resources [As a modifier] A personnel officer
Examples:
Adjective: Her personal fortune was recently estimated at $37 million. The president and his wife made personal appearances for the re-election of the state governor. The book describes his acting career and gives little information about his personal life. His personal remarks about Mr. Mellor’s work ethic were unprofessional. You look like a drowned rat — nothing personal. Her personal hygiene leaves something to be desired. Can I get a personal opinion from you? It’s my personal car, not a company car. One category of pronouns is the personal pronoun. He rejected the notion of a personal God. Noun: So put in a personal ad. Maybe he’ll see it. I found it in the personals. He delivered the roses in person. Can’t you be your own person for once!? My future happiness arrived in the person of Beau Ritter.	Many of the personnel involved require training. We’re short on sales personnel this week what with this flu bug going around. You’ll have to talk to someone in the personnel department. Compare it with the German Personal, the variant of Personale, and the Italian personale. George is the personnel officer in your branch. We’ve been ordered to make cutbacks in personnel by the end of the month.
Derivatives:
Adjective: hyperpersonal, multipersonal, nonpersonal Adverb: hyperpersonally Combined Form: -person Noun: person, persons, personality, personalness, personals
History of the Word:
Late Middle English from Old French, which is from Latin personalis meaning of a person, from persona, meaning person. 1861, personal added in the meaning a classified ad addressed to an individual. 1888, it evolved into the meaning newspaper item about private matters. 1976 added personal computer.	Evolved around 1825-35 from the French personal (adjective from the Old French personel) and personnel (noun), both of which evolved from the Late Latin persōnāle, the neuter of persōnālis, which replaced the Latin personal as a noun. The noun personnel contrasts with matériel meaning equipment or materials used in an organization or undertaking. Compare it with the German Personal, the variant of Personale, and the Italian personale.

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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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