Word Confusion: Shimmer versus Shimmy

Posted June 8, 2021 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
1 Oct 2022

Shimmer shines while shimmy shakes.

So when I read about a woman shimmering her dress down her body . . . I had to wonder if I’d missed something in the story. Here I thought she was meant to be sexily shaking her dress down her body for her lover . . . but instead the author must have meant she was wearing a shiny dress.

Maybe.

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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Shimmer	Shimmy
Shimmering Water by RAJESH misra is under the CC0 1.0 license, via Public Domain Pictures.net.	Shimmy Motion by Nico Nelson is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr.
Part of Grammar:
Noun, singular; Verb, intransitive Plural for the noun: shimmer Gerund: shimmering Third person present verb: shimmers Past tense or past participle: shimmered Present participle: shimmering	Noun; Verb, intransitive Plural for the noun: shimmies Gerund: shimmying Third person present verb: shimmies Past tense or past participle: shimmied Present participle: shimmying
Noun: A soft, slightly wavering light Verb, intransitive: Shine with a soft tremulous light	Noun: A kind of ragtime dance in which the whole body shakes or sways To move up and down and from side to side with small quick movements, especially in order to put on or take off clothes Shaking, especially abnormal vibration of the wheels of a motor vehicle [Archaic; informal] Another term for chemise Verb, intransitive: Dance the shimmy Shake or sway the body [With adverbial of direction] Move effortlessly Glide with a swaying motion [shimmy up, shimmy down] Climb quickly up or down by gripping with one’s arms and legs Shake or vibrate abnormally
Examples:
Noun: We stood in a pale shimmer of moonlight. I could see the excitement in Charlie’s eyes as he saw the shimmer of light dancing on my katana blade. Her skin had taken on a translucent shimmer, skin even paler than before. Her hair was darker and had more auburn in it than it used to, and her eyes had a shimmer of pale green in them. Verb, intransitive: The sea shimmered in the sunlight. A giant flame shimmered brightly in the moonlight. Brown and beautiful, her eyes shimmered in the light of the house. His eyes shimmered in the low light and he yawned and curled his purple striped tail around his cat body. His lover turned to him with her questioning dark eyes, her brown hair shimmering in the sunlight.	Noun: Her revue included vernacular forms like the shimmy, black bottom, shorty George, and the cakewalk. We had to move our hips around and do a shimmy, so it took awhile for us to actually get the hang of it. Steering stabilizers reduce shimmy even from oversized tires. “I can’t find my shimmy,” she said with a note of frustration. “Have you checked the laundry?” her mother asked. Verb, intransitive: They shimmied all over the dance floor. Every woman has had that moment of elation when she shimmies into something a size smaller than usual. She shimmied out of that brown dress while her daughter was still fiddling with buttons. Her hair swung in waves as she shimmied down the catwalk. Ya gotta watch the muscles on that boy when he shimmies up the pole. Workers shimmied up and down the ladders while they re-did the roof. He braked hard and felt the car shimmy dangerously.
Derivatives:
Adjective: shimmering, shimmery, unshimmering Adverb: shimmeringly, unshimmeringly
History of the Word:
Late Old English scymrian is of Germanic origin and related to the German schimmern, also to shine. The noun dates from the early 19th century.	Early 20th century and of unknown origin.

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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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