Word Confusion: Manager versus Manger

Posted February 25, 2021 by kddidit in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
8 Dec 2022

I write a newsletter for my building and recently received a note telling me that the issue should be between the tenant and the manger. Okay, I know it was just before Christmas, but I really don’t think the note writer was talking about a trough for baby Jesus. Then again, they did write the word twice . . .

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.

If you found this post on “Manager versus Manger” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

Return to top

Manager	Manger
Mr. Gene Lambert, the Emergency Manager for Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, Conducts a Lecture by Lisa Derek M. Poole, USN, is in the public domain, via the US National Archives.	Bill’s Horse Trough, Scone, New South Wales, was uploaded by Mattinbgn, which is under the CC BY 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Trough? Manger? They’re the same.
Part of Grammar:
Noun Feminine: manageress Plural for the noun: managers, manageresses	Noun Plural: mangers
A person responsible for controlling or administering all or part of a company or similar organization A person who controls the activities, business dealings, and other aspects of the career of an entertainer, athlete, group of musicians, etc. A person in charge of the activities, tactics, and training of a sports team A person who controls and manipulates resources and expenditures, as of a household [British] A theatrical producer [Computing; with modifier] A program or system that controls or organizes a peripheral device or process	A long open box or trough for horses or cattle to eat from [Nautical] A space at the bow of a ship, having a partition for confining water entering at the hawseholes until it can be drained The perforated, elevated bottom of the chain locker which prevents the chains from touching the main locker bottom and allows seepage water to flow to the drains
Examples:
He’s the night manager of a bar. Talk to the sales manager. She left it to her manager to deal with the canceled concerts. The team’s new manager disposed of his contract in mid-season. Helena is the manager for the new B&B. “Frederick Balsir Chatterton, known as F.B. Chatterton (17 September 1834–18 February 1886) was a 19th-century British theatre manager and impresario who was lessee of the Theatre Royal in London’s Drury Lane from 1866 to 1879” (F.B. Chatterton). I’ve been having a beast of a time accessing my file manager.	A nativity scene always has a manger. Wet feed remaining at the ends of mangers also provide a place for flies to lay eggs. Aboard ship, a manger is also known as a manger-board or a combing and prevents seepage from building up in the ship’s bottom.
Derivatives:
Adjective: managerial, managerialist Adverb: managerially Noun: management, managerialism, managerialist, managership, submanager, submanagership, undermanager
History of the Word:
This was first recorded in 1580–90, manage + -er.	Middle English from the Old French mangeure, based on the Latin manducat- meaning chewed.

Return to top

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.

Return to top