Revised as of
7 Nov 2022
It took more than one day . . . days in fact, before the daze passed.
Yep, I was dazed at the incredible lack of proofreading in that author’s book. A great story concept, but I was dazed, dazed and confused, astounded, amazed, astonished, startled, dumbfounded, flabbergasted, bowled over, blown away by the idiotic misuse of commas, the run-on sentences, not to be confused by all the sentence fragments . . . Then there were the dialogue issues, the humongous paragraphs, the lack of continuity . . .
Oh, mama . . . I’m still dazed, even after all these days.
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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| Days | Daze |
|---|---|
Doctor’s Appointment by Geralt is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay. — While a number of days are showing, only one day is circled. |
Bathing Fears by Chris Marchant is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr. — This guy looks to be in a daze. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Morpheme: day
Adjective; Adverb; Noun Plural for the noun: days |
Noun; Verb, transitive
Plural for the noun: daze Third person present verb: dazes |
| Adjective: Of or relating to the day Working during the day Occurring before nightfall Adverb: Noun:
An analogous division of time for a planet other than the earth [Usually days] A particular period of the past
A time considered as propitious or opportune [Architecture] One of the perpendicular divisions or “lights” of a mullioned window |
Noun: A state of stunned confusion or bewilderment Verb, transitive:
To overwhelm
|
| Examples: | |
| Adjective: I need a day job. There should be a day nurse for every eight patients. We planned a day hike for tomorrow. Adverb: Noun: The shop is open seven days a week. The owl sleeps by day and feeds by night. The animals hunt by day. She sleeps all day and goes out at night. He works an eight-hour day. Why do we not get a total eclipse once every 28 days, i.e., once every lunar orbit? A Martian day is twenty-five hours long. By the time they had all gone, it was broad day. The laws were very strict in those days. We passed time discussing the political issues of the day. Graduation day is fast approaching. We celebrate with the whole family on Christmas Day. Ah, yes, my student days . . . He had been a matinée idol in his day. We’ll get our day in court! She cared for him for the rest of his days. Back in the day, small days and mullions were necessary to create a large window. |
Noun: He was walking around in a daze. After meeting my hero, I was in a daze for a week. Still in a daze, Paul sat down slowly. Henry was in a daze, as he wandered the battlefield. Jane and Bets remembered walking off the boat in a daze. After all that drinking, we were in a daze. Verb, transitive: He staggered home dazed and confused. He was dazed by a blow on the head. The splendor of the palace dazed her. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Noun: half-day, daysailer, daysailing, dayside, dayspring, payday, preday, workday Verb, intransitive: daysail |
Adjective: dazed, half-dazed, undazed, undazing Adverb: dazedly Noun: dazedness |
| History of the Word: | |
| Old English dæg is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch dag, the German Tag, and the Old Norse dagr.
In English, it originally meant the daylight hours and was expanded to mean the 24-hour period by late Anglo-Saxon times. It’s not considered to be related to the Latin dies, but rather to the Sanskrit dah meaning to burn, the Lithuanian dagas meaning hot season, and the Old Prussian dagis meaning summer. |
Middle English in a back-formation from dazed (adjective), from the Old Norse dasathr meaning weary; compare with the Swedish dasa meaning lie idle. |
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 Days versus Daze
Apple Dictionary.com
The Free Dictionary: day
Pinterest Photo Credits:
When a Problem Comes Along You Must Whip It, <https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/3424970624/e5aea2cf75/&gr;, by Evil Erin is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt.
