Word Confusion: Quack versus Quake

Posted November 22, 2022 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Yeah, somehow I don’t think “the United States’ enemies are ‘quacking in their boots’”.

Wait. I take that back. Although I suspect that quote was meant to be about US enemies shaking with fear . . . Maybe she meant that those enemies are making a lot of noise?

Quack has a noun and verb form and has two meanings in both. The first is the sound made by a duck. The second is a charlatan, a fraud, or an impostor who pretends to have qualifications.

Quake is a noun and a verb that’s all about trembling, shaking, fear.

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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Quack	Quake
Quack! by hedera.baltica is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Flickr.	Damaged Shops Following February 22 Quake by Martin Luff is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
Part of Grammar:
Adjective ¹; Noun ¹, ²; Verb, intransitive ¹, ² Plural for the noun: quacks Gerund: quacking Third person present verb: quacks Past tense or past participle: quacked Present participle: quacking	Noun; Verb, intransitive Plural for the noun: quakes Gerund: quaking Third person present verb: quakes Past tense or past participle: quaked Present participle: quaking
Adjective: Being a quack ¹ Of, pertaining to, or befitting a quack or quackery Presented falsely as having curative powers Noun: A fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill ¹ A person who pretends, professionally, or publicly, to skill, knowledge, or qualifications he or she does not possess A charlatan The characteristic harsh sound made by a duck ² Verb, intransitive: A person who dishonestly claims to have special knowledge and skill in some field, typically medicine ¹ [Of a duck] Make a characteristic harsh sound ² [Informal] Talk loudly and foolishly	Noun: An earthquake An act of shaking or quaking Verb, intransitive: [Especially of the earth] Shake or tremble [Of a person] Shake or shudder with fear
Examples:
Adjective: Careful, he’s a quack psychologist. He’s all about quack methods. I don’t believe in quack medicine. He’s hawking quack cures. Why do intelligent people find quack remedies so appealing? Noun: The man was a quack after all, just as Rosalinda had warned. I went everywhere for treatment, tried all sorts of quacks. The man was a quack. I heard a quack and saw some ducks huddled together. Verb, intransitive: Ducks quacked from the lake. He was still quacking about vinyl’s alleged superiority to CDs. The ducks were quacking so loudly.	Noun: There was a big quake east of the Rocky Mountains. A little quake of delayed shock nudged her. The quake destroyed mud buildings in many remote villages. Verb, intransitive: The rumbling vibrations set the whole valley quaking. He was a large man with a flaming temper, and I was quaking as I ran to his office. This whole situation must have some people in Hollywood quaking in their boots. The earth quaked.
Derivatives:
Adjective: quackish, Adverb: quackishly Noun: quackery, quackishness	Adjective: quakier, quakiest, Quakerish, quaky Adverb: quakingly Noun: Quaker, Quakerism
History of the Word:
Mid-17th century, as an abbreviation of earlier quacksalver, from the Dutch, probably from the obsolete quacken meaning prattle + salf, zalf. Mid-16th century (as a verb) is of imitative origin and related to the Dutch kwakken, the German quacken.	Old English cwacian.

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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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