Word Confusion: Colonel versus Kernel

Posted March 17, 2020 by kddidit in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
5 Nov 2022

Colonel comes about from the 16th century French coronelle, which is a corruption of the Italian colonnelo. When the French borrowed colonnelo, the Italians were supreme in battle, so naturally English scholars were translating Italian military treatises, which were, naturally, using the l-only spelling. Lord knows why we kept the spoken r version.

So I suspect that the spelling confusion is a result of this difference between the written and verbal versions, which leads to such problems as “Kernel Jamison ordering his troops into battle”. It may “sound” right, but I’m looking for a kernel of corn on a horse.

Yep, kernel is not a person, but the edible part of a nut, seed, or fruit stone contained within its hard shell. No, no, lol, some of you military people may still think your colonel is a kernel, but there will be no cannibalism!

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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Colonel	Kernel
Colonel Thomas H Marshall is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.	Cracked Walnut with Kernel is under the CC0 license, via PxFuel.
Part of Grammar:
Noun Plural: colonels	Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: kernels Gerund: kerneling, kernelling Third person present verb: kernels Past tense or past participle: kerneled, kernelled Present participle: kerneling, kernelling
An army officer of high rank [In the US Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps] An officer above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier general Corresponds to a captain in the US Navy [Informal] Short for lieutenant colonel An honorary title bestowed by some Southern states, as to those who have brought honor to the state, prominent businesspersons, visiting celebrities, or the like [Older use; in the South] A title of respect prefixed to the name of distinguished elderly men	Noun: A softer, usually edible part of a nut, seed, or fruit stone contained within its hard shell The seed and hard husk of a cereal, especially wheat [Computing] The most basic level or core of an operating system of a computer, responsible for resource allocation, file management, and security [Linguistics; as modifier] Denoting a basic unmarked linguistic string [South Atlantic States] The pit or seed of a peach, cherry, plum, etc. [In singular noun] The central or most important part of something Essence Gist Core [Mathematics] The set of elements that a given function from one set to a second set maps into the identity of the second set [Physical chemistry; also called rumpf] The remainder of an atom after the valence electrons have been removed A very small amount of something Verb, intransitive: [Rare] To form kernels Verb, transitive: To enclose as a kernel To ripen to kernels
Examples:
As a general rule, however, military intellectuals tend to face mandatory retirement as lieutenant colonels or colonels, just as they are achieving full intellectual maturity. Many lieutenant colonels and colonels express frustration at being labeled as poor mentors, and portrayed as contributing to the attrition of captains. The Defense Department announced on Friday that the President has formally nominated three colonels for promotion to brigadier general. When the vice-president visited the state, he was made a Kentucky colonel. Colonel Sanders makes some fine chicken.	Noun: Crack a handful of whole walnuts, remove the kernels from the shells, and halve and quarter them. Macadamia is cultivated for its edible kernels. The presence in wheat kernels of a cathepsin B gene led the search for its barley counterpart. For interesting crunch and flavor try tossing the kernels into your cereal or scattering them on top of the cream cheese on your morning bagel. His leadership is the kernel of the organization. The problematic patch, designed to fix a flaw in the way the kernel passes error messages to a debugger, was issued on April 16. A kernel sentence does not contain any optional expression and is simple in the sense that it is unmarked in mood. The kernel provides you with valuable information, without having to solve a really complicated system. Attempting to remove kernel e- requires larger amounts of energy. Of course, there is a kernel of truth to what he’s saying. Verb, intransitive: Sweet corn won’t kernel unless it’s pollinated. Verb, transitive: You kerneled them nuts yet? “In Staffordshire, garden-rouncivals sown in the fields kernel well, and yield a good increase” (Mortimer’s Husbandry).
Derivatives:
Noun: colonel-in-chief, colonelcies, colonelcy	Adjective: kerneled, kernelless, kernelly
History of the Word:
Mid-16th century, from the obsolete French coronel (earlier form of colonel), from the Italian colonnello meaning column of soldiers, from colonna meaning column, from the Latin columna. The form coronel, source of the modern pronunciation, was usual until the mid-17th century.	Old English cyrnel is a diminutive of corn as a cereal plant.

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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!

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