Word Confusion: Oh versus Owe

Posted December 28, 2021 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
11 Dec 2022

I know, it’s a mean post to put out and spoil the Christmas vibe. I got to thinking about the expense of the season and oh, woe, I owe in this pair of heterographs (a subset of homophone).

Oh is primarily an exclamation or a way of catching someone’s attention.

Owe is a verb about having an obligation to pay or repay. It’s usually money, but can also be gratitude, vengeance, respect, and more.

You may also want to explore “O vs O’ vs Oh vs Ooh” or “Uh versus Um“.

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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Oh	Owe
Hands Over Mouth by Robbin Higgins is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay. — Oh, no!	Paying with a Credit Card by Hloom Templates is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — And then we’ll owe, owe, owe.
Part of Grammar:
Abbreviation ¹; Exclamation ²; Noun ³, ⁴; Sentence connector ⁴; Verb, intransitive ³ Plural for the noun: ohs, oh’s Third person present verb: ohs Past tense or past participle: ohed Present participle: ohing	Verb, intransitive & transitive Third person present verb: owes Past tense or past participle: owed Present participle: owing
Abbreviation: [Official postal use] Ohio ¹ Off hand [Real estate] Open house Exclamation: Used to express a range of emotions including surprise, anger, disappointment, or joy, or when reacting to something that has just been said ² Used in direct address to attract the attention of the person spoken to Noun: [Also oh] Zero (in a sequence of numerals, especially when spoken) ³ [British; informal; other half] A person’s wife, husband, or partner ⁴ Sentence connector: An expression used to preface a remark, gain time, etc. ⁴ Verb, intransitive: To utter or exclaim oh ³	Verb, intransitive: To be in debt Verb, transitive: Have an obligation to pay or repay (something, especially money) in return for something received Owe something, especially money, to (someone) Be under a moral obligation to give someone (gratitude, respect, etc.) Be indebted to someone or something for (something) [Often followed by to] To have as a result (of) To hold or maintain in the mind or heart
Examples:
Abbreviation: The address is Bowling Green State University, 1001 East Wooster Street, Bowling Green OH 43403. You should address it to the Ohio Attorney General, Collection Enforcement Section, Attn: Bankruptcy Unit, 30 East Broad Street, 14th Floor, Columbus OH 43215. If you have a question about Medicaid, send a letter to the Ohio Department of Medicaid, Office of Legal Counsel, P.O. Box 182709, Columbus OH 43218-2709. Exclamation: “Oh no,” said Daisy, appalled. Oh, shut up. Oh dear, what a mess! Oh, god! Oh, John, will you take these books? Oh, waiter! Will you come here, please? Me? Oh, I’m fine. Noun: We go on 3: 0̸, 1, 2, 3. My phone number is five, double oh, seven, six, six. Pete and my OH have fallen out . . . causing problems all round. My OH and I are having a getaway this weekend. Sentence connector: Oh, I suppose so. Oh, okay. Oh, you want it shorter? Verb, intransitive: There was a lot of ohing and ahing when we put up the Christmas tree. When Jess opened her birthday present, her friends ohed and ahed.	Verb, intransitive: Neither lend nor owe. Who owes for the antipasto? He still owes for his house. Verb, transitive: They have denied they owe money to the company. I owe you 25 cents. I owe you for the taxi. I owe it to him to explain what’s happened. I owe you an apology. She owes herself a rest! I owe my life to you. He owes his success to chance. I owe him payback for what he did.
Derivatives:
	Noun: owing
History of the Word:
On July 1, 1963, the Post Office Department implemented the five-digit ZIP Code, which was placed after the state name in the last line of an address. To provide room for the ZIP Code, the Department issued two-letter abbreviations for all states and territories. For more information, read Publication 59, Abbreviations for Use with ZIP Code (US Postal Service). A natural exclamation first recorded in Middle English. Later spelling of O, from the mid-16th century. 1990s, an abbreviation of other half.	Old English āgan meaning own, have it as an obligation is of Germanic origin from an Indo-European root shared by the Sanskrit īs meaning possess, own.

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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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