Word Confusion: Pastor versus Pasture

Posted June 6, 2024 by kddidit in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

While it is possible for a pastor to pasture their flock, it doesn’t seem right for a pasture to tend to their flock. That suggests more mobility than I would have imagined.

So this word confusion pastor vs pasture needs to be set right.

Pastor is generally a person who oversees a religious group, although it can function as a verb.

Pasture can be noun or verb and is all about grassy land.

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Exploring Later . . .

You may want to explore abbreviating a religious title, “Cannon versus Canon“, Reverend versus Reverent“, “Praise v Prays v Preys“, and/or “Minister versus Minster“.

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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 “Pastor versus Pasture” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

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Pastor	Pasture
Pastor Greeting His Parishioners, Linworth, Ohio, by Ben Shahn is in the public domain, via the New York Public Library.	Fence and Pasture in East Texas is Matthew T Rader‘s own work and is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
Part of Grammar:
Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: pastors Third person present verb: pastors Past tense or past participle: pastored Present participle: pastoring	Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: pastures Gerund: pasturing Third person present verb: pastures Past tense or past participle: pastured Present participle: pasturing
Noun: A Christian minister or priest having spiritual and jurisdictional charge of a parish, church, congregation, or community A layperson having spiritual charge over a person or group [Archaic] A shepherd [Animals; a.k.a. rosy pastor] A S Asian starling, Sturnus roseus rosy, having a glossy black head and wings and a pale pink body Verb, intransitive: Be pastor of (a church or congregation) Verb, transitive: To serve or act as pastor of	Noun: Land covered with grass and other low plants suitable for grazing animals, especially cattle or sheep [pastures] Used to refer to a person’s situation in life Verb, intransitive: [Of animals] Graze Verb, transitive: Put (animals) in a pasture to graze To graze on (land or vegetation) To use (land) as pasture
Examples:
Noun: Pastor John oversees the youth program. “She showed my sketches to the pastor and the doctor and the judge” (Maugham, ch 38). The pastor’s voice was like him, elderly and creaky. The Pastor roseus are highly gregarious birds, and often form large, noisy flocks. Verb, intransitive: He continued to study law while pastoring in Chicago. He pastors when their regular pastors were unavailable. Will is pastoring this weekend. Verb, transitive: He pastored Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto. He pastored the church here for many years. She’s pastoring the children’s Bible study.	Noun: There were areas of rich meadow pasture. Many a horse was put out to pasture there. Grassy pastures were spread throughout the land. There was a range of pasture grasses. He has departed for the greener pastures of a corner office. Over time the more colorful among us have been put out to pasture. Verb, intransitive: The livestock pastured and the crops grew. Sheep were pastured in the far acres. “The cattle in the fields and meadows green Those rare and solitary; these in flocks Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung.” Source: Milton, bk 7 Verb, transitive: They pastured their cows in the water meadow. The villagers relied on the commons for pasturing their sheep. The shepherd pastures forty sheep on his land. The land will pasture 150 cows.
Derivatives:
Adjective: pastorlike, pastorly Adverb: pastorally Noun: pastoralism, pastorality, pastorate, pastorship, subpastor	Adjective: pasturable, pastureless Noun: pastureland
History of the Word:
Late Middle English from the Anglo-Norman French pastour, from the Latin pastor meaning shepherd, from past- meaning fed, grazed, from the verb pascere.	Middle English from the Old French, from the late Latin pastura meaning grazing, from past- (grazed), from the verb pascere.

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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!

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