Revised as of 14 April 2021
That troublesome heterograph raises its head, and OMIGOD, I couldn’t stop rolling on the floor, laughing when I came across this bit of promotional advertising…
Get it now! Pairing knife – $10.99!!
Hey, with June coming up, maybe it’s a ceremonial knife for weddings??
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 noir for you from either end.
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| Pairing | Paring |
|---|---|
| Credit to: Apple Dictionary.com; Dictionary.com: pair | |
Ladybugs in Nature is in the public domain, via Pixnio. — Okay, it’s rude, but it does represent several definitions of pairing, lol. |
Peeling Potatoes by kalhh is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay. — After she pared this potato, there were lots of parings in the sink. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Root word: pair
Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: pairings |
Root word: pare
Combined form 1; Plural noun 2; Verb, transitive 2 The noun is always a plural: parings |
| Noun: As the focus is on pairing, this post will ignore pair as a noun An arrangement or match resulting from organizing or forming people or things into pairs
Verb, intransitive:
To form a pair or pairs To match with or resemble another To unite in close association with another, as in a business partnership, friendship, marriage, etc. [Government; in a deliberative body] To form or arrange a pair Verb, transitive:
To arrange or designate in pairs or groups of two To form into a pair, as by matching, joining, etc.
[Of animals] To cause to mate |
Combined form: A short-bladed kitchen knife for paring fruits and vegetables Noun, plural: Thin strips that have been trimmed off from something Verb, transitive:
|
| Examples: | |
| Noun: The dancers made a fine pairing. The pairing of food and wine is an art and each enhances the taste of the other. The step occurs very late in meiosis, well after the time of chromosome pairing. Those two are such an illogical pairing. Verb, intransitive: Rachel is pairing up with Tommy. I really hate pairing up socks. Hurry, they’re pairing off for the procession. Richardson can’t be here for the Democrats, so he’s pairing up with Smythson on the Republican side. Verb, transitive: I can’t believe she’s pairing up that cardigan with that skirt. Richardson can’t be here for the Democrats, so he has a pairing agreement with Smythson on the Republican side. She’s pairing dancers for the waltz contest. What do you think I’m doing? I’m pairing freshly washed socks. Again. |
Combined form: Hand me the paring knife, please. Noun, plural: In a world of magic, you should always burn your fingernail and toenail parings. Throw those potato parings in the compost. Verb, transitive: At this stage, you should be paring off the rind using a peeler. We are paring costs by doing our own cleaning. Since John and Mary retired, they’re consciously paring down and reining in their spending. Congress is paring back benefits from social welfare programs. Finish paring off the skin of the oranges and then mince the meat into quarters. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: pairwise, unpaired, well-paired Adverb: pairwise Noun: pairs |
Adjective: pareable, unpared Noun: parer |
| History of the Word: | |
| Middle English from the Old French paire, which is from the Latin paria meaning equal things, a neuter plural of par meaning equal.
Formerly, phrases such as a pair of gloves were expressed without of, as in a pair gloves. |
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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 more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Paring, <https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/3772013250/81d26b4510/>, by JD Hancock, <https://visualhunt.com/author/19ccd5>, is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt.
