Ageing versus Aging caught my eye, what with Mother’s Day and all. My mom has Alzheimer’s and our conversations lately are about her being in her early 60s. I told her it just ain’t possible what with my age being what it is. Every time, she’s surprised when I tell her how old she really is.
Other than her memory issues, my ageing mom is aging well.
So, did you catch that? Yep, both ageing and aging mean the same thing. The former is British English while the latter is a North American usage. That said, be consistent in which one you use. If your story is British, use the first. If your story is set in North America, use the second. And then stick with it.
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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| Ageing | Aging |
|---|---|
 — |
 |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| British Morpheme: age Adjective; Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: ageing Third person present verb: ages |
North American Morpheme: age Adjective; Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: aging Third person present verb: ages |
| Adjective: [Of a person] Growing old
Noun:
Acquiring desirable qualities by being left undisturbed for some time Verb, intransitive: To mature, as wine, cheese, or wood Verb, transitive:
To bring to maturity or a state fit for use To store (a permanent magnet, a capacitor, or other similar device) so that its electrical or magnetic characteristics become constant To expose (a dye or dyed cloth) to steam or humid air in order to fix the dye To stabilize the electrical properties of (a device) by passing current through it |
|
| Examples: | |
| Adjective: England has an ageing population. Every person will be looking after ageing relatives at a certain point. Iran has an ageing fleet of oil tankers. Noun: Ageing is no fun. “Ageing takes place in a cell, an organ, or the total organism with the passage of time” (Rogers). He’s showing the external signs of ageing. The ageing process is an ongoing thing. Gerontology is “the science of the finitude of life as expressed in the three aspects of longevity, ageing, and death” (Rogers). Metal ageing can be a natural process or an artificial one. Verb, intransitive: The heavy port is ageing slowly. Her cat is slowly ageing and requires a lot of care. Verb, transitive: We’re ageing the wine in that cellar. Ageing demagnetization “is a phenomenon in which the magnetic flux of a permanent magnet decreases with time” (Aging Demagnetization). Moist air has proven to be most effective in ageing dyed fabric (O’Neill). “Furthermore, for the devices tested after 300 h of ageing, there is no significant change in the transfer characteristics when the pumped vacuum chamber is flushed with N2 gas indicating that this n-type conduction increase is not pressure-dependent and not affected by N2 adsorption” (Hoffman). |
Adjective: The US has an aging population. Every person will be looking after aging relatives at a certain point. Iran has an aging fleet of oil tankers. Noun: Aging is no fun. “Aging takes place in a cell, an organ, or the total organism with the passage of time” (Rogers). He’s showing the external signs of aging. The aging process is an ongoing thing. Gerontology is “the science of the finitude of life as expressed in the three aspects of longevity, aging, and death” (Rogers). Metal aging can be a natural process or an artificial one. Verb, intransitive: The heavy port is aging slowly. Her cat is slowly aging and requires a lot of care. Verb, transitive: We’re aging the wine in that cellar. Aging demagnetization “is a phenomenon in which the magnetic flux of a permanent magnet decreases with time” (Aging Demagnetization). Moist air has proven to be most effective in aging dyed fabric (O’Neill). “Furthermore, for the devices tested after 300 h of aging, there is no significant change in the transfer characteristics when the pumped vacuum chamber is flushed with N2 gas indicating that this n-type conduction increase is not pressure-dependent and not affected by N2 adsorption” (Hoffman). |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: interage, unageing Noun: age, subage Verb: age, aged, ages, preage, preaged, preaging |
Adjective: interage, unaging Noun: age, subage Verb: age, aged, ages, preage, preaged, preaging |
| History of the Word: | |
| 1860, a verbal noun from age. | |
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 Ageing vs Aging
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“Aging Demagnetization.” Glossary of Magnet Terms. Rare Earth Magnet Basics. n.d. Web. 24 April 2020. <https://www.shinetsu-rare-earth-magnet.jp/e/design/words/a_d.html>.
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: aging
Hoffman, Anna N., Michael G. Stanford, Cheng Zhang, Ilia N. Ivanov, Akinola D. Oyedele, Maria Gabriela Sales, Stephen J. McDonnell, Michael R. Koehler, David G. Mandrus, Liangbo Liang, Bobby G. Sumpter, Kai Xiao, and Philip D. Rack. “Atmospheric and Long-term Aging Effects on the Electrical 2 Properties of Variable Thickness WSe2 Transistors.” Office of Scientific and Technical Information. US Department of Energy. n.d. Web. 24 April 2020. <https://www.osti.gov/pages/servlets/purl/1546558>.
O’Neill, Charles. A Dictionary of Dyeing and Calico Printing: Containing a Brief Account of Dyeing and Printing Textile Fabrics; In the Arts of Dyeing and Printing Textile Fabrics; Practical Receipts and Scientific Information. HardPress Publishing, 2018. p 53. <https://amzn.to/3WhsW7e>.
Rogers, Kara, Petra Simic, and Leonard P. Guarente. “Aging: Life process.” Encyclopædia Britannica. n.d. Web. 24 April 2020. <https://www.britannica.com/science/aging-life-process>.
Vocabulary.com: aging
Pinterest Photo Credits:
The background was removed in Photoshop in this photograph of Aging (France Through My Eyes) by Sheila Sund, which is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr.
