Word Confusion: Carrel vs Chorale vs Corral

Posted February 21, 2019 by kddidit in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
5 Sept 2022

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I remember the first time I came across a carrel in a book, and it opened my horizons to the different customs at other universities and libraries.

Looking at the carrel to the left, it does a reasonable job of forming a corral for a researcher’s books and equipment, keeping your space somewhat private. Now if only the chorale would stop singing and distracting me!

Word Confusions . . .

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Carrel	Chorale	Corral
Study Carrel by SimonP is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL license, via Wikimedia Commons.	Phoenix Chorale by the Phoenix Chorale (PhoCho (talk)) and under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.	Cattle Sale 1 provided by User:Cgoodwin under the GFDL or CC BY 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Not just cattle, but people can be put in a corral too.
Part of Grammar:
Noun Plural: carrels	Noun Plural: chorales	Noun; Verb, transitive Plural for the noun and third person present verb: corrals Past tense or past participle: corralled Gerund or present participle: corralling
A small cubicle or stall with a desk for the use of a reader or student in a library, designed for individual study or reading A small recess or enclosed area in a library stack [Historical] A small enclosure or study in a cloister A table or desk with three sides extending above the writing surface to serve as partitions, designed for individual study, as in a library	A musical composition (or part of one) consisting of or resembling a harmonized version of a simple, stately hymn tune [US] A choir or choral society	Noun: [North American] A pen for livestock, especially cattle or horses, on a farm or ranch [Historical] A defensive enclosure of wagons in an encampment Verb, transitive: Gather together and confine a group of people or things [Chiefly North American] Put or keep livestock in a pen [Historical] Form wagons into a defensive enclosure [Informal] To seize Capture To collect, gather, or garner
Examples:
This sudden descent into darkness would be followed by cursing from the vicinity of the open carrels where readers had lost track of time. Almost as soon as the carrels were set up they were full. Study carrels were sometimes placed along a corridor’s edge. They observed the quiet intensity of the students in their assigned carrels. She grabbed her flashlight and ran out of her carrel. That evening, I spent an hour in the Laidlaw Library, sitting in a carrel, pretending to study some book I’d grabbed off the shelf. Sister Frevisse was told Sister Berte was in her carrel, copying a manuscript.	You asked me if I could perhaps play at the beginning of the service — in this instance — the first of Bach’s Advent chorales. There are very few chorales in the work, but the resounding conclusion with full chorus is strikingly similar to the ending of the much more celebrated St John Passion. The second movement, most directly connected with a funeral, pits the second choir, singing a chorale on the fragility of human life, against a florid commentary on God’s mercy. Lutheran chorales were so often the basis of Bach’s counterpoint, and Wagner devised for his Nuremberg mastersingers, a counterpoint that was both traditional and contemporary. As the group’s mission statement states, ‘the Eastern Youth Chorale is a movement of young people pursuing musical excellence,’ and their aim is to groom young singers for the adult chorale.	Noun: The horses are in the corral, boss. Get those calves through the chute and into the corral. We’ll meet at the corral at 10. Verb, transitive: The organizers were corralling the crowd into marching formation. We gotta corral those horses. Corral the wagons now! We corral the wagons every night. You better corral those kids of yours. I think we can corral enough votes.
History of the Word:
Late 16th century and apparently related to carol in the old sense ring.	Mid-19th century from the German Choral(gesang), translating from the medieval Latin cantus choralis meaning choral singing.	Late 16th century from the Spanish and the Old Portuguese curral meaning enclosure for carts, equivalent to the Latin curr(us) meaning wagon, cart (a derivative of currere meaning to run) + -āle, a neuter of -ālis (-al).

Carrel

Chorale

Corral

A set of study carrels at Robarts Library at the University of Toronto.

Study Carrel by SimonP is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL license, via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo of the singers of the Phoenix Chorale, along with their Artistic Director and conductor, Charles Bruffy (center)

Phoenix Chorale by the Phoenix Chorale (PhoCho (talk)) and under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

Cattle Sale 1 provided by User:Cgoodwin under the GFDL or CC BY 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

—

Not just cattle, but people can be put in a corral too.

Part of Grammar:

Noun

Plural: carrels

Noun

Plural: chorales

Noun; Verb, transitive

Plural for the noun and third person present verb: corrals
Past tense or past participle: corralled
Gerund or present participle: corralling

A small cubicle or stall with a desk for the use of a reader or student in a library, designed for individual study or reading

A small recess or enclosed area in a library stack
[Historical] A small enclosure or study in a cloister

A table or desk with three sides extending above the writing surface to serve as partitions, designed for individual study, as in a library

A musical composition (or part of one) consisting of or resembling a harmonized version of a simple, stately hymn tune

[US] A choir or choral society

Noun:
[North American] A pen for livestock, especially cattle or horses, on a farm or ranch

[Historical] A defensive enclosure of wagons in an encampment

Verb, transitive:
Gather together and confine a group of people or things

[Chiefly North American] Put or keep livestock in a pen

[Historical] Form wagons into a defensive enclosure

[Informal] To seize

Capture

To collect, gather, or garner

Examples:

This sudden descent into darkness would be followed by cursing from the vicinity of the open carrels where readers had lost track of time.

Almost as soon as the carrels were set up they were full.

Study carrels were sometimes placed along a corridor’s edge.

They observed the quiet intensity of the students in their assigned carrels.

She grabbed her flashlight and ran out of her carrel.

That evening, I spent an hour in the Laidlaw Library, sitting in a carrel, pretending to study some book I’d grabbed off the shelf.

Sister Frevisse was told Sister Berte was in her carrel, copying a manuscript.

You asked me if I could perhaps play at the beginning of the service — in this instance — the first of Bach’s Advent chorales.

There are very few chorales in the work, but the resounding conclusion with full chorus is strikingly similar to the ending of the much more celebrated St John Passion.

The second movement, most directly connected with a funeral, pits the second choir, singing a chorale on the fragility of human life, against a florid commentary on God’s mercy.

Lutheran chorales were so often the basis of Bach’s counterpoint, and Wagner devised for his Nuremberg mastersingers, a counterpoint that was both traditional and contemporary.

As the group’s mission statement states, ‘the Eastern Youth Chorale is a movement of young people pursuing musical excellence,’ and their aim is to groom young singers for the adult chorale.

Noun:
The horses are in the corral, boss.

Get those calves through the chute and into the corral.

We’ll meet at the corral at 10.

Verb, transitive:
The organizers were corralling the crowd into marching formation.

We gotta corral those horses.

Corral the wagons now!

We corral the wagons every night.

You better corral those kids of yours.

I think we can corral enough votes.

History of the Word:

Late 16th century and apparently related to carol in the old sense ring.

Mid-19th century from the German Choral(gesang), translating from the medieval Latin cantus choralis meaning choral singing.

Late 16th century from the Spanish and the Old Portuguese curral meaning enclosure for carts, equivalent to the Latin curr(us) meaning wagon, cart (a derivative of currere meaning to run) + -āle, a neuter of -ālis (-al).

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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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