Word Confusion: À deux vs Adieu vs Ado

Posted November 28, 2019 by kddidit in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
16 June 2023

Pinterest pin for À deux vs Adieu vs Ado

This actually is a post à deux — between you and me alone. So without much ado, I’ll bid you adieu to read it in peace . . .

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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À deux	Adieu	Ado
Sunset Romantic Dinner, Sandals Whitehouse, Jamaica, by happyskrappy is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr. — A dinner à deux . . .	Child Waving Goodbye by skeeze is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay. — Adieu, Papa!	Two Brown Dachshund by Tatiana LM is in the public domain, via Pexels. — I suspect neither dachshund feels much ado about anything.
Part of Grammar:
Adjective; Adverb	Exclamation; Noun: Plural for the noun: adieus, adieux	Noun Plural: ado
Adjective: Involving two people especially in private Adverb: Privately or intimately with only two present	Exclamation: [Chiefly literary] Goodbye Farewell Noun: A goodbye Farewell The act of leaving or departing	Fuss, especially about something that is unimportant [Dated] Trouble or difficulty
Examples:
Adjective: It was a cozy evening à deux. We were eating dinner à deux in the apartment we had moved into after we married. “I’d love a dinner à deux with Paul,” she sighed. Miriam and her husband are having dinner à deux. A romantic dinner à deux: a delicious meal perfect for Valentines Day. Adverb: They each reinforce each other’s insanity — in psychology this is called a folie à deux or a shared madness. I just had a rummage through my archives and found a little diary entry of my own voyage à deux when French and I took a road trip down south for my 30th birthday. We dined by candlelight, à deux. Thus it was that we lunched together amid the books and birds, in an exquisite solitude à deux.	Exclamation: Adieu! Adieu, my friends! Noun: He whispered a fond adieu. They bade us all adieu. There was a delay in bidding our adieux.	On the face of it, this is much ado about almost nothing. She had much ado to keep up with him. Without further ado, I present Mr Jones. She made it all sound like a big nuisance — much ado about nothing. Despite all the hype, it’s much ado about very little.
History of the Word:
Middle English, borrowed from the Anglo-French a deu, a dieu, literally meaning to God.	Late Middle English from the Old French a (to) + Dieu (God).	Late Middle English, originally in the sense of action, business, from the northern Middle English at do meaning to do, from the Old Norse at (used to mark an infinitive) and perform an action.

À deux

Adieu

Ado

A couple having a romantic dinner on a porch overlooking the ocean

Sunset Romantic Dinner, Sandals Whitehouse, Jamaica, by happyskrappy is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr.

—

A dinner à deux . . .

A young girl in a white sundress with a long ponytail waves goodbye to a US Navy plane

Child Waving Goodbye by skeeze is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay.

—

Adieu, Papa!

A yellowed page of five people looking down at something intently

Two Brown Dachshund by Tatiana LM is in the public domain, via Pexels.

—

I suspect neither dachshund feels much ado about anything.

Part of Grammar:

Adjective; Adverb

Exclamation; Noun:

Plural for the noun: adieus, adieux

Noun

Plural: ado

Adjective:
Involving two people especially in private

Adverb:
Privately or intimately with only two present

Exclamation:
[Chiefly literary] Goodbye

Farewell

Noun:
A goodbye

Farewell

The act of leaving or departing

Fuss, especially about something that is unimportant

[Dated] Trouble or difficulty

Examples:

Adjective:
It was a cozy evening à deux.

We were eating dinner à deux in the apartment we had moved into after we married.

“I’d love a dinner à deux with Paul,” she sighed.

Miriam and her husband are having dinner à deux.

A romantic dinner à deux: a delicious meal perfect for Valentines Day.

Adverb:
They each reinforce each other’s insanity — in psychology this is called a folie à deux or a shared madness.

I just had a rummage through my archives and found a little diary entry of my own voyage à deux when French and I took a road trip down south for my 30th birthday.

We dined by candlelight, à deux.

Thus it was that we lunched together amid the books and birds, in an exquisite solitude à deux.

Exclamation:
Adieu!

Adieu, my friends!

Noun:
He whispered a fond adieu.

They bade us all adieu.

There was a delay in bidding our adieux.

On the face of it, this is much ado about almost nothing.

She had much ado to keep up with him.

Without further ado, I present Mr Jones.

She made it all sound like a big nuisance — much ado about nothing.

Despite all the hype, it’s much ado about very little.

History of the Word:

Middle English, borrowed from the Anglo-French a deu, a dieu, literally meaning to God.

Late Middle English from the Old French a (to) + Dieu (God).

Late Middle English, originally in the sense of action, business, from the northern Middle English at do meaning to do, from the Old Norse at (used to mark an infinitive) and perform an action.

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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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